Hot Bayou Nights
by Mercedes Watson
Summary: The team is temporarily disbanded and Rogue and Remy have gone thier separate ways. However fate draws them back together when Rogue shows up in New Orleans, powerless.
1. Interstates 55 and 59

_Hot Bayou Nights_  
Chapter 1  
Interstates 55 and 59

Remy sighed as he looked over the façade of the house in front of him. It was a big old house, probably almost as old as the city around him and had a proper porch wrapping around it. It was kind of on the small side compared to the rest of the houses in the Garden District, but it was plenty for Remy. He had no real idea of how he had come into possession of the thing, but he had a feeling that he won it in a poker game some how. He shifted his travel bag so that it was more comfortable on his shoulder and walked through the front gate. It squeaked loudly in protest as he moved it and Remy put it at the top of his list of things to fix around here. As he walked up the front walkway and he got closer to the house, the list of things to do got longer and longer and Remy realized he had a daunting task in front of him. By the time he was actually standing before the front door, Remy was half wishing he had never thought of returning to New Orleans.

_Figures dat while I'm on vacation from de X-Men fo' de first time in years, I gotta spend it doin' home repair._ He thought as he had to throw his shoulder into the door to get it to open.

The inside of the house wasn't nearly as bad as the outside. At least, that was the way it looked. It was very dusty inside and Remy knew the first thing he had to do was open the windows or else he would choke to death. On the bright side, the house was already furnished, the previous owner having put dust covers over everything. To his immediate left was the living room, or, what he would make his living room. To his right was a staircase leading to the upstairs bedrooms, Remy presumed. Under the stairs was a utility closet and directly across from that was another closet, this one more for coats and the like. Remy walked past the closets and came into the dining area which was separated by a breezeway from the kitchen on his right. He peered out a window at the back of the property and saw that it was just more grass, relieving his fears of some monstrously overgrown garden hiding there. All in all, not too shabby for winning a poker game.

The stairs creaked under his weight as he ascended them. Reaching the top, he saw that if he kept going straight he would end up in a bedroom. The bedroom was connected to a bathroom which was also connected to another bedroom on its other side. Across the hall was the master bedroom with its master bathroom and Remy threw his bag down on the bed. With a grimace, he realized he was going to have to go –gulp—shopping. This stuff was just too damn ugly for him to put up with. But not today, he was done for today. He lay down on top of the ugly bed sheets and tried to relax. He had driven all the way from Jackson, Mississippi to here without stopping except to eat at some dive of a diner. That had been a bad idea, he thought as his stomach gurgled strangely. Looked like his cross country road trip had ended early. A couple of weeks ago, the X-Men had gone on a 'temporary hiatus' as Scott had put it. It looked more to Remy like a disbanding. Anyway, Remy's plans had suddenly been cleared for the foreseeable future and had got the idea to go on a road trip, just him and his motorcycle. That reminded him, he was going to need a car or something if he was going to make this dump livable. So he had packed up a couple of days later, said goodbye to everyone who hadn't already fled the second that particular meeting had ended, and left. He had taken the long way around things. Down through New York, across the top of Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Indiana and to Illinois where he hopped on Interstate 55 and headed due south, ending up in New Orleans. It was nice driving for hours on end; it gave him time to clear his head and he had a lot of clearing out to do. It was all mainly concerning Rogue. He hadn't even been surprised when the next morning after Scott's announcement her room had been empty, the only sign of her ever being there was the stuffed animal left at the head of the bed. Good riddance to her, he couldn't put up with her anymore. She flirted, dressed revealingly at times and yet, he wasn't allowed near her with a ten foot pole. It drove him up the wall. He could give her what she wanted, he was creative like that. But she wouldn't believe him, wouldn't trust him. So they had broken up (again) a while back and he had been trying to move on ever since. A road trip, he had decided, would be good for him.

Tomorrow, he would start fixing things.

The next morning Remy woke up late, but it was before noon; so it was early for him. He cursed falling asleep the night before and not going out and getting food. So breakfast was cooked courtesy of IHOP and afterwards he went and rented himself a car, a black Trans Am. Then it was off to the hardware store.

Remy's cart was full of crap. Hammers, nails, even a couple of moderately expensive powers tools. He was done shopping, at least for hardware tools. Now he was pretending to be interested in some of the impulse items at the checkout as he waited his turn to be checked out. The cashier was cute, real cute. Remy wasn't sure what would look better on her, the little apron she was currently wearing over her t-shirt and denim shorts or a tool belt. He got a nice view of her derriere as she came out from behind the counter to help the customer in front of him lift a heavy box onto the counter so she could scan it. Hell, Remy decided, it didn't matter what she wore, she was a blonde Southern gal with legs that were to die for.

"Hi, how ya doin' t'day?" she greeted Remy as it was his turn to check out.

"M'doin' jus' fine t'day." Remy replied with a charming grin. "And yo'self?"

The grin had the desired effect. She smiled and he could tell she was trying not to giggle and blush as she scanned his items. "Ah'm doin' fine as well."

"_Bon_." Remy replied. "S'shame such a pretty little t'ing like you should be cooped up in here on a day like t'day."

Again, the girl smiled. Remy was surprised. He hadn't expected to be doing nearly this well right off the bat with this girl. ….Who was he kidding? Of course he expected to be doing this well, he _was_ Remy LeBeau after all.

"Please don't take dis de wrong way, but I couldn't help but notice you've got some very nice legs." Remy continued on in his flirting. "Do you work out or somet'in'?"

"Actually, Ah'm a gymnast."

_Dieu_. A little piece of Christmas had just come early. "Really?" Remy asked with his eyebrows raised above his sunglasses.

"Yes suh." She beamed proudly. "Ah was gonna make state this past season, but Ah had kinda a nasty fall and hurt my ankle. It didn't heal up in time for me ta get back inta the swing of things, so ta speak."

At Remy's curious look, she continued on. "My specialty is the uneven bars and Ah'm always swingin' and flippin' around. Even when Ah was little my momma always use'ta say Ah should be a gymnast 'cause Ah was always swingin' from the trees in our backyard."

Remy smiled at her little story. "Y'know, it jus' so happens dat I used t' be a gymnast fo' a while."

The girl pouted with a kind of sad curiosity. "Use'ta be? What happened?"

Remy sighed. "Couple'a years back I was on de rings and blew my rotator cuff." Remy put a hand to his right shoulder and rolled his arm forward, grimacing a bit. "Jus' was never de same after dat."

"Oh my goodness, ya poor thing."

"_Merci_." Remy thanked her for her sympathy. "Still hurts once in a while, though."

"Do ya need any help gettin' this stuff ta ya car? Ah could get one of my associates in the back ta cover the register while Ah help ya out."

Remy shook his head. "_Non_, ya don't have t'. I wouldn't want t' be--"

"Oh it's no trouble at all." She said and disappeared into the back.

Remy smiled to himself. Hook, line and sinker. She came back out a few minutes later and accompanied him to his car. They chatted some more and exchanged names and numbers while they loaded up Remy's car with his purchases. Jeanette (that was her name) "casually" let it slip that she got done work at five o'clock and Remy took the oblivious cue to ask her out. That was the whole trick with women; let them think that they were the one to get you to go out with them. If you could get that done, then the rest was easy. By the time all of Remy's things were in the car, he had earned himself a peck on the cheek.

Not a bad start to the day.

* * *

Rogue groaned and squeezed her eyes shut tighter in pain. When it had subsided some what, her eyes opened. She was outside, on the ground. Alone as far as she knew. She sat up, her body feeling achy and strangely heavy all over. Where in the hell was she? And why was she only in a green tank top and jeans? What the hell happened? Rogue tried to remember. Just before the team disbanded Xavier had sent her on a secret mission. He said it could help her with her powers. He told her to leave right after the announcement so as to not arouse suspicion. Everyone would just figure that she had been dying to get out and had seized the opportunity as soon as it arose. She was supposed to go to some place just outside of Caldecott. It was here where things started to break apart into flashes and bare wisps of memory. There was an old desolate dirt road and then along driveway and an old abandoned looking house and then, and then . . . and then there was nothing but blackness in her mind. Lordy, she had sure gotten herself into a fine mess. With a grunt, Rogue got to her feet and dusted herself off. There was a bag not to far from where she was and upon closer inspection she found that it was hers. She was at the bottom of some kind of shallow gully and Rogue began to climb her way up to the top. What she saw at the top she was not expecting. It was a road stretching as far as the eye could see; an interstate it looked like. Rogue guessed she was in some backwater part of the South because there was no one around, not even a car in sight.

_Looks like Ah'm gonna be hitchin' it ta . . .somewhere._ Rogue thought as she slid both arms into the straps of her pack and set off along the road. After a few steps she turned and started walking backwards, sticking her thumb out over the road.

What felt like hours later, Rogue was practically dragging her bag along the road and only half-heartedly keeping her thumb out. The good news was, wherever she was, it was still down south. She would never be able to mistake the unique heat and humidity. It clung to her skin like a thick goo and moving through it felt the same way. Giving up on hitchhiking, she turned back around and started walking forward. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. It was hot and she had no water, no food, no cell phone. Rogue looked farther up the road, putting a hand over her eyes to block out the sun. Was that? It was! A roadside diner. And it looked like it had people in it. And if it had people in it, then that meant that they were open and that they had food and water. Rogue quickly checked her pockets for money and found a wadded up twenty.

Ten minutes later, Rogue walked into the diner. The air conditioning felt marvelous on her overheated skin. She wiped the sweat off her brow and stood in the door way for a few moments, soaking in the cool air. A throat cleared somewhere in the diner and Rogue opened her eyes and took a seat at the counter. A woman walked up to her, with big curly hair like hers and chewing some gum.

"What'll be dear?"

"Water." Rogue said, surprised at the desperateness in her voice.

The waitress gave her an odd look. "That all?"

Rogue looked up at the menu on the wall behind the counter. "Catfish and hushpuppies please."

The waitress wrote it down on her pad and then tore it off. She took the piece of paper over to the window between the kitchen and the counter, hanging it on a spinner. "Fish and puppies!" She called back. The waitress then turned and reached under the counter and brought up a bottle of water and handed it to Rogue.

"Ah know this is gonna sound weird, but where are we?"

"'Interstate 59, 'bout a mile or two south of Picayune. Almost right on the border with Louisiana."

"Thank ya." Rogue said and opened her bottle of water. Interstate 59? How did she get this far east? Caldecott was near Interstate 55, right along the Mississippi River. Where the waitress had said they were put her a hell of a lot farther south as well. If her memory served her right, then she was closer to the Gulf and maybe less than 50 miles northeast of New Orleans. Shit, just what _had_ happened to her?

Her food was placed in front of her and Rogue dug in greedily. It had been a long time since she had had her favorite dish, and even longer since it had been cooked the right way. She just couldn't find the proper supplies needed to make proper catfish and hushpuppies up north. She was almost finished her meal when a man came up to her and sat down next to her.

"Couldn't help but notice that ya walked your way here." He said in a gruff voice.

"Ah had car trouble a few miles up the road." Rogue lied coolly.

"Where ya headed?"

"New Orleans." She said. It was the closest major metropolitan area and Rogue had a feeling that she would need a city to get her bearings on things. She would be safe in the city. Besides, she had never seen The Big Easy and now was as good a time as any.

"Well, you're in luck." The man replied. "I just so happen ta be headin' that way myself."

"Ya wouldn't be offerin' me a ride now, would ya?" Rogue said, looking the man in the eye and getting straight to the point.

"Only if you're willin' ta ride in that big rig out there."

Rogue turned and looked out one of the diner windows to see the tail end of a semi truck that was parked on the side of the building. If worst came to worst, she could always throw his truck on top of him. "Deal."

The man stuck out a hand to shake. "Name's Ted."

"Anna." Rogue replied, using her current favorite alias. She looked uneasily down at Ted's outstretched hand. "Ah'm sorry, Ah don't shake hands. Kinda an OCD thing, don't like ta touch other people's hands."

Ted frowned for a second but then closed his hand into a fist. "Bump fists?"

At Rogue's odd look, Ted elaborated. "Ya know, like that Howie Mandel fella on TV."

"Oh." Rogue nodded slowly with realization. Well, if he was going to be that insistent on making some kind of handshake. . . Rogue closed her hand into a fist and quickly 'bumped fists' with Ted. She was expecting there to be some kind of pull, at least to make Ted dizzy or something. But there was nothing, nothing at all. Just flesh meeting flesh. There was no intake of memories or thoughts even in the slightest.

Rogue smiled to herself as she paid for her meal and followed Ted out to his truck. If she would have known going on some secret mission and waking up on the side of a highway would have canceled out her power somehow, she would have done it a long time ago.

* * *

"Ya know, normally Ah don't do this on a first date." Jeanette said as Remy pushed her up to the door to his house.

"Dat's okay _chere_, dere's a first time for everyt'in'." Remy said into her neck as he unlocked the door. They stumbled inside and closed the door behind them by way of pushing it closed with their bodies. Remy had cleaned up considerably since his stop at the hardware store, but still had a lot of work to do. Hopefully, he would be able to keep Jeanette distracted from it. Remy wasn't sure if he would be up to doing this tonight, after all, he had been doing manual labor for most of the day. But when he saw Jeanette at the restaurant in her little black dress that showed off her perfect legs, Remy knew he'd have to be neutered not to want that. He reached down and grabbed the hem of her short dress and lifted it up over her head so that she was now only in a bra and thong. Yay. Remy shifted them away from the door and started making his way up the stairs, lips connected to Jeanette's the entire time. He lost his shirt at the bottom of the stairs and his pants somewhere near the top. When they got into his room, Remy pushed Jeanette down on the bed and removed the rest of her (and his) clothing. He took hers off with his teeth, which Jeanette seemed to like very much along with various other things Remy was doing to her body.

When they were done christening the new sheets he had bought that afternoon, Remy laid back contently. He laced his fingers behind his head and smiled slightly as Jeanette snuggled up to him and fell asleep.

The women of New Orleans had best lock their doors because Remy LeBeau was back in town and he was on the prowl.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know, I know. I really shouldn't be putting out new stuff but this fic and another have seemed to eaten my brain for the summer. And since a full time job with boxes and such saps a lot of time and energy out of me, I rarely have energy to work on anything else. But damn it, I'm trying! I have done some work on _Runaway _Rogue and _Affliction, _so don't lose hope! This was inspired by the first romance novel that I bought. It was set in the Bayou and had Cajuns in it and I immediately thought of Remy the entire story. I'm going to try my best to keep things romance-based and not get too drama-y, but I'm not making any concrete promises. It's basically just semi-fluffy summer romance crap to feed my Romy muse. Ye be warned. Review and tell me what you think!

M.W.


	2. Nice to See You Again

_Hot Bayou Nights_  
Chapter 2  
Nice to See You Again

Remy awoke the next morning and was pleasantly surprised to find a warm body lying next to him. However, that pleasant feeling was soon replaced by worry. How was he going to get rid of her? Damn it, he should have thought this out better last night. At the very least, he should have made them go to her place; it wasn't like he didn't have an excuse. His house was a mess, a fact she would probably tell him upon waking up. At her place it would be a lot easier to sneak out and never see her again. Now. . . heck, he wasn't sure what to do now. While Remy pondered his current conundrum, the want for coffee overtook him. Slowly he eased out of bed, trying not to wake Jeanette.

He pulled on a pair of boxers and made his way downstairs into the kitchen on silent thief's feet. As he was scraping the last few grounds out of the bottom of the can, an idea struck him. He needed to get coffee. That was his out; he would be out getting coffee for the next few hours. Sure it was stupid and kind of sophomoric, but then again, Remy had never proven himself to be above these types of things in the past.

Quickly and quietly, Remy made his way back upstairs and hurriedly put on some clothes. The whole time he prayed that she wouldn't wake up while he was in the middle of dressing. A few minutes later he was easing the door shut as quietly as possible and then getting in his car and driving off.

After driving around for nearly an hour Remy decided to stop and have breakfast at one of New Orleans many sidewalk cafes. The girl that waited on him was pretty and Remy's charm was particularly on cue this morning. By the time he was enjoying his beignets and chicory coffee, he had her number scribbled on a scrap of paper in his back pants pocket.

"As I live and breathe! If it ain't Remy LeBeau."

Remy smiled behind his coffee cup. "_Bonjour_ Henri."

Henri hopped over the low fence separating the restaurant's tables from the sidewalk and sat down across from Remy. "Dat's all ya have t' say t' me? After _troi_ years, all you can say is _bonjour_?"

Remy shrugged. "Ya do ya want from me? T' get up and do de birdie dance for ya?"

Henri let out a short bark of laughter. "I thought ya would'a been too drunk t' remember dat."

Remy shook his head. "Dere ain't no way I'm not gonna remember ya dancin' on de bar without pants on 'cause ya got so drunk after Mercy said she'd marry ya." Remy popped the last piece of beignet into his mouth. "How Mercy doin' anyways?"

"_Bon_." Henri said. "She's pregnant."

Remy felt his eyebrows lift on his head. "Really? _Félicitations_."

Henri nodded, beaming proudly. "_Merci_. In about _quatre_ months, yo' gonna be an uncle."

Remy smirked. "Ya do know dat is it my duty as an uncle t' spoil yo' kid rotten and make him int' a _petite diable_?"

"If ya ever see him."

Remy's face snapped into a mild glare. "Dat ain't _my_ fault."

Henri waved a hand dismissively and lit up a cigarette. "I know." Remy didn't need to know who Henri's muttered 'stupid bitch' in French was directed at. "Speakin' of Guild business, it's a good t'ing yo' back in town. I was t'inkin' I could use yo' help on a job our _pere_ gave me."

"Ya always need my help thievin'. Yo' a piss po' thief, dat's why Jean-Luc like me mo'." Remy smiled devilishly and lit up his own cigarette.

Henri glared at him and flipped him the bird. "Shut yo' fool mouth so I can tell ya what ya need t' know."

Jean-Luc wanted a very fancy, very rare jewel out of the New Orleans Museum of Art from the Egyptian exhibit currently running there. Henri gave him a brief run down of the plan and made sure Remy still had his blueprints for the museum. Remy was unsure about using them, citing that they were kind of old and probably needed to be updated. This started an argument between Henri saying that they were fine and that they hadn't changed the museum too much over the years and Remy arguing that he didn't want to go into something practically blind. Remy won, assuring his brother that he would be able to hack the prints from the Internet somewhere. They spent the next few hours bullshitting and catching up with each other, their time together ending when Mercy called up and positively demanded that Henri get her something from the store _now_. When Henri hung up, Remy teased him about being whipped and Henri made a comment involving not having a steady girlfriend and herpes.

After Henri left, Remy signaled his waitress for his check. She brought it over with a glare and practically threw it down on the table.

"Hold on a second dere, _chere_." He grabbed her hand before she could storm off. "Why ya so mad?"

Turned and gave him an indignant glare. "If you're gonna spend three hours bullshittin' with someone, the least ya could do is order somethin'."

Remy looked contrite. "_Je suis desole, chere_. Can I make it up t' ya?"

She pushed a long lock of her black hair behind on ear while she thought. "I don't know…"

Remy stood and was scant inches from her when he did so. "I can t'ink of a few good t'ings." He whispered.

He watched her swallow and a slight flush creep up her cheeks. The next few words out of his mouth were pure charm and when he was done, he had her practically panting and agreeing to go out to dinner that very night.

Remy left the cafe wondering whether or not it would be too slutty of him to have a different girl in his bed every night for the next seven days.

* * *

Wouldn't fate have it that not ten minutes down the road from that diner that Ted's rig overheated. He kept muttering curses under his breath as he popped open the hood and began tinkering around. Rogue was standing near the front of the rig, in case Ted needed any help. What if her powers didn't work anymore because of what had ever happened during that blackout? It was a logical conclusion, if her absorption powers didn't work, then why should her other powers? It was time to test this theory out. Surreptitiously, Rogue reached down and grabbed the front bumper of the truck and pulled up.

Nothing. Didn't even budge and inch.

_Fuck_. Just what exactly had happened to her? She wished she could remember so she could figure it out. She also wished that she had them back, just to be able to fix this mess or at the very least, fly her way out of it.

"Anna, be a dear and start the truck up for me."

Rogue jumped at the sound of Ted's voice, but did as she was told. About forty five minutes of her trying to start the engine and then Ted cursing when it didn't start passed before the truck finally turned over again. Rogue slid over in her seat as Ted got back in the driver's seat, hands covered in grease and oil. It was late at night when Ted finally made it to his stop. Rogue thanked Ted for the ride and departed from his company; ignoring the odd look she got for wanting to walk the streets of New Orleans at this time of night. She walked for about an hour, stopping into a jazz place to rest her feet take in some of the sounds. A few young men asked her to dance, and for the first time she was happy to oblige. Dancing was wonderful when she didn't have to worry about touching. Quite possibly, it might be one of her favorite things. It was nearly two am when she finally checked into a motel a few blocks from the French Quarter. She could have sworn she saw Remy in that place she had stopped by. Turning over in her bed, Rogue dismissed the thought as ridiculous. Even if Remy was in New Orleans, what were the odds of him being in the same jazz club as her? There were hundreds within 10 blocks of the French Quarter alone. Just as she was about to drop off into sleep, she was awakened by the sounds of rhythmic, steady thumping against her wall and the faint sounds of heavy breathing and moans. Rogue grimaced and clamped the pillow over her ears.

_Ah am so not stayin' here another night._

Sometime during the night Rogue had fallen asleep. She would have slept much later had it not been for the rays of sunshine seeping into her room (and right into her eyes) through the cracks in the blinds. With a groan, Rogue rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Minutes later she realized that it was futile and sat up in bed. Rubbing at her face, she yawned widely. Why had she picked this place to stay the night? The mattress was lumpy, and the pillows pancake thin, just like the walls. She was surprised she had gotten any sleep at all. Rogue lifted her arms over her head and stretched, sighing contentedly when she was done. She always did love a good stretch. Rogue swung her legs out of the bed and headed to the bathroom to shower, turning the TV on as she passed it. Twenty minutes later Rogue stepped out of the steamy bathroom in a towel and was scrubbing her hair dry with another towel. _At least the hot water didn't run out. _It then hit her that she had no idea what was in her bag. _Please tell me Ah brought a change of clothes with me._ Rogue padded over to where her bag had been thrown last night and saw that she did in fact bring a change of clothes but they certainly weren't the kind of clothes she would have brought from the Institute. They were new and they were much more revealing than her usual clothes. With a shrug, Rogue pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a white sleeveless blouse that she knotted at the stomach. She wasn't going to dress like she usually did if she didn't have to worry about knocking people out every time she brushed against someone. And she certainly wasn't ready to start working out why, she wasn't ready yet. Usually when she started to figure out why her powers were on the fritz, they came back shortly after she solved the puzzle and hardly got to enjoy their absence. But now that she didn't have Scott or Xavier breathing down her neck saying 'Cover up, you don't know when they could come back. What if you hurt one of the team members?' she was going to enjoy being normal. She was especially going to enjoy not having to put up with unbearable heat as much. If the South was hot regularly during the summer, it was down right murder with long sleeves and pants on.

Rogue thought of what she should do today to entertain herself. After all this whole disbandment thing was like a long vacation, so why not enjoy herself for a bit before getting back to the business Xavier sent her down here for? Maybe she could play tourist and go sightseeing around the town. She could go on one of those swamp tours and feed the alligators marshmallows or something crazy like that.

In fact, that was exactly what Rogue did after checking out of her motel room. First she went on a carriage tour of the city, getting an idea of what was where and a little bit of history too. Then she went shopping like any girl would when presented with the shops on Canal Street. She hopped on a street car to have a late lunch in the French Quarter at Barracks St. Café. After that Rogue went on a cemetery and voodoo tour and by the time her sightseeing was done, she ended up in the Garden District. She was walking down a street, admiring the beautiful houses and wondering what kind of stories they held within their old walls. She was nearing a house where someone was doing repair work out on the front lawn and a corner of her mouth turned up slightly as she realized that someone was a rather attractive and topless man. He was hammering away at something underneath the porch and as she walked closer to the property, she realized the shirtless, sweaty man was repairing the lattice underneath his elevated porch. Without realizing it, she stopped by the gate that separated the slope of the front lawn from the street. The jazz that was drifting over to her from the radio set out on the steps near the house was mesmerizing and Rogue figured this was probably the best thing she saw all day. Beautiful jazz and getting to watch a lean and muscled man work himself sweaty. . . .God, she could be such a girl sometimes.

Her fun was ruined however when the mystery man turned around, brushed himself off and stopped short.

It was Remy.

* * *

After breakfast at the café, Remy decided it was time to chance going home and checking if Jeanette was still there. He eyed the house wearily as he got out of his car and shut the door quietly. He didn't want to slam it unless Jeanette was still there and she heard it. He went through the front gate, pleased when it barely even made a whisper as it opened. He was walking up the front steps when he noticed a large hole in the lattice under the front porch. _What in de hell?_ Thoughts about avoiding Jeanette temporarily forgotten, he walked over to it and kneeled down next to it. Upon looking inside, Remy saw two eyes reflecting at him and heard a low animalistic growl. Remy jerked back away from the hole so as to not get his face slashed up by whatever it was. Damn it, there was some kind of vermin living under his porch and doing god-knows-what to it. Remy scanned the ground for a pebble or something and, finding one, leaned back down towards the hole and threw it in, adding a light charge to it. It hit the animal with a small –bang!- and a light flash. However instead of making the animal run away, it growled and came at him with claws. Remy backed away from it quickly, a few feet away from the hole in his porch now, and the animal followed, revealing itself to be a groundhog.

"Wanna play hard ball, neh?" Remy challenged the little creature, getting out a deck of cards from his pockets. The groundhog in turn growled again and took a few steps towards him.

Remy stood up and flung a card at its feet, adding a bit more charge to it. He didn't want to hurt the thing if he could help it because then he would have to clean up animal guts. The card exploded with a small amount of force and the groundhog jumped back. However it didn't run just yet, instead standing its ground and making an odd kind of hissing noise at him.

"Hey, dis is my porch, I won it fair and square!" He told the groundhog. "And it ain't gonna be no groundhog motel. Go on now, get!" He threw another card, quickly followed by another and another. This time the groundhog ran and Remy chased it for a few feet. "Yeah, dat's right. Ya better run." He said after it as it shimmied under the fence he shared with his neighbor and became their problem. "Filthy little vermin." He muttered under his breath, going back to the hole. It would do no good to have that sitting there and gaping at everyone that went by. With a resigned sigh, Remy went in side and grabbed the Yellow Pages, looking up the nearest Home Depot.

Jeanette had not been inside when he went inside, but she did leave behind a note that said 'Call me'. Remy decided as he took of his shirt while worked on repairing the lattice under his porch that that was never going to happen. He was done with her and to tell the truth, she had been kind of annoying. He retrieved the section of new lattice from where he had left it on the lawn, briefly noticing a girl walking up the street. Jeanette kept jabbering on and on about gymnastics and training. The only thing that made it worth while was being able to test out how flexible she was in bed, and boy was she ever. But not nearly enough for him to be able to put up with her incessant talking for another night. She hadn't even wanted to dance at the club they had gone to, just talk and talk and talk.

As he was hammering the lattice in, Remy felt eyes on him. It was probably that girl that had been walking up the street. From the brief glance he saw of her, she looked like a tourist and there was nothing more annoying than tourists. He reached down on the ground for another nail and found only soil. Damn it, he was out already? He got up and brushed the front of his jeans off and upon looking up, was shocked at who he saw.

"Rogue?"


	3. Tension

_Hot Bayou Nights_  
Chapter 3  
Tension

Remy blinked hard, not quite believing his eyes. He knew that it was Rogue, but the way she was dressed was completely unlike her. Her long smooth legs were free for everyone to see along with that flat little perfect tummy of hers. It was almost indecent by Rogue's usual standard of dress.

"What're ya doin' here?" he finally managed to ask.

Rogue shrugged. "Ah was in town, doin' some sightseein'."

"Really?" Remy arched a brow at her. "Ya played tourist all day?"

Rogue nodded, curls bouncing. "Yeah, pretty much." She hitched a thumb in her belt loops and lifted her sunglasses up onto her head. "So what're ya doin' back here? Ah thought ya weren't allowed back."

Remy shrugged. "What Marius don't know don't hurt him."

Rogue nodded tightly and her disapproval was obvious. "So. . . .Ah didn't realize your B & E skills had gotten so obvious."

Remy chuckled slightly, smirking. "I'm not breakin' in." He said. "It's my house."

"Your house?" Rogue repeated, unbelieving. "Ah highly doubt that."

Remy shrugged and picked up a little plastic container of nails up from the ground. "Believe what ya want, _chere_."

"Fine then, if it's really your house, can Ah crash here for tanight?" Rogue was taken aback by her boldness. What on earth possessed her to say that? Sure it might have crossed her mind (along with a few other racy things) when she first realized that this handsomely half-naked man was Remy, but she couldn't possibly spend the night here. There was too much bad blood between them. Even when they were together, they argued too much to be healthy and that was made only worse after they had broken up.

Remy was thinking along the same lines as Rogue. He blinked in surprise at her, her sudden forwardness unexpected. He knew it was probably going to be a mistake, but his sense of hospitality to help a girl in need was winning him over. Factor in that she was also a fellow X-Man and that all X-Men had some sort of sense of family, camaraderie and all that other crap that Remy wasn't too particularly fond of, and his decision was practically made for him. Besides, Rogue could be kinda snarky when she was in a bad mood and would probably gossip about it to all the other X-Girls once the team was back together. And it was _never _a good thing to incur the wrath of all the X-Women at the same time.

"Dere's a few extra bedrooms upstairs." Remy replied, hitching a thumb over his shoulder. "Take yo' pick."

"Thanks, sugh." She smiled. As she walked, more like sashayed, by, Remy couldn't help but turn and watch her go by. After all it wasn't everyday he got to see the former star of his daydreams dressed so revealingly. It gave him bad ideas. Good thing his full schedule for tonight kept him out of the house.

By the time Remy was done fixing the lattice, it was time for him to start getting ready for his date. He showered and then shaved, humming to himself as he put on a bit more aftershave. He dressed himself in a deep red dress shirt and black slacks. As he came down the steps, he saw Rogue in the living room watching TV.

"Dere's some take-out and delivery menus stuck on de fridge if ya need 'em." Remy said, leaning up against the wall.

Rogue looked him over briefly. "And just where are ya goin'?"

Remy smirked to himself. If she thought that he was going to stay in all night just because she was staying over, then she was sadly mistaken. "Me?" he smirked outwardly. "I got me a date t'night. Gonna stay out real late, so don't wait up." He shot her a wink and was gone.

The first night that Rogue spent at Remy's house became the standard of operations so to speak. He left in the early evening to go out with some girl and didn't return until very early in the morning and sleeping until the afternoon. The afternoon after the first night Rogue stayed over, Remy had suggested that Rogue crash at his place for the foreseeable future, rather than live out of her green, corduroy bag. '_Been livin' out a bag fo' most yo' life chere, why don't ya stop and take a break for a while?_' were his exact words. Rogue hadn't needed much more persuasion than that considering she didn't like hotels all that much. The thought of who had slept in the bed before her and what they had done in it always hung in the back of her mind. Rogue sipped her lemonade as she eased back and forth in the rocking chair on Remy's porch. Remy was mowing the lawn, or trying to at least with a rusty old manual push mower.

"Ya know, I t'ink dis would make a lot mo' sense if de one wit' super strength and invulnerability out of us was mowin' de lawn in 99 degree heat." Remy said, panting slightly and wiping his brow with the back of his arm.

Rogue smirked and shook her head. "Ah would love ta sugh, but Ah can't."

"What ya mean, ya can't?"

Rogue hadn't told Remy that her powers had decided to take a vacation of some sort out of some half baked fear that he'd want to jump her bones as soon as he found out he could. "Ah mean, Ah'd just end up as sweaty as ya."

Remy shot her a crooked smile. "So?"

Rogue glared at him. "Just for that, ya ain't getting' any lemonade that Ah made."

Remy only looked momentarily offended that she had made lemonade without telling him. "I t'ought dat ya didn't get hot and stuff like dat cause of dem powers ya got from Carol?"

Rogue shrugged, spreading her hands wide but said nothing.

Remy narrowed his eyes at her. "What're ya hidin'?"

"What? Can't a girl have her secrets?"

"_Chere_" Remy began, abandoning the ancient lawnmower and walking toward where she was seated on the porch. "If ya had any more secrets on ya, you'd be more complex dan de plot of _Lost_." He started up the steps and took a seat in the rocking chair on the other side of the front door. "C'mon, Rogue, dis is about yo' powers. Wit' all de grief ya gave me about dem, I t'ink I should know if somet'in' up with dem."

Rogue's mouth dropped open, apparently offended. "Ya arrogant son of a bitch! Ya got some balls on ya, ya know that? If there_ is_ somethin' goin' on with mah powers, Ah don't owe nobody an explanation, certainly least of all you!" With that, Rogue stormed into the house, stomping up the stairs. There was a few seconds of silence before the door to her room slammed shut so hard that it made Remy wince.

_Merde._

Remy knew that letting Rogue stay at his place was a bad idea. The first sign had been those clothes that she was wearing when she seemingly just appeared in front of his house. Maybe she didn't like being covered up all the time, but for him, now that they weren't together anymore, it was a good thing. It kept him from noticing just how toned and fit and...well, all around sexy her body was. The second sign was the little standoff they had had after she had demanded to stay at his place. He still thought that maybe she had been half-joking when she had said it, but the look on her face at the time made him not so sure. So, he had had two signs staring him blatantly in the face and did he listen to them? No. Why? Remy liked to blame his adoptive father for it.

_Damn you Pere fo' makin' me learn dat southern gentleman crap._

"Remy, will ya pay attention!" Henri shouted at him from above in the air duct. "Dat's de third time ya nearly got us caught!"

Remy looked up at his brother awkwardly. The floor below was censored so they had decided to break into this place _Mission: Impossible_ style. Hence why Remy was hanging upside down from a rope that his brother was anchoring in the air duct above him. "You ain't de one wit' all de blood rushin' t' yo' head. Now shut yo' big mouth up." Remy returned his attention to breaking the electronic lock in front of him.

"Blood rushin' t' yo' head, my ass." Henri scoffed above him. "Yo' t'inkin' about a girl."

Remy looked up again. "Since when have I ever thought about a girl so hard dat it distracted me from my work?" He rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. "I ain't twelve anymo', ya know."

Henri laughed. "Ya still act like it."

"Fine." Remy pocketed his lock-picks and folded him arms. "Ain't no skin off my nose if ya don't get dis diamond. _Pere_ don't even know I'm here helpin' ya, so it's yo' ass dat he's gonna rip int'. Ya really wanna talk about dis, 'cause I can go all night."

He could hear Henri's annoyed sigh above him. "Don't get yo' panties all in a bunch about it. Jus' wanna know what's goin' on wit' _mon petite frere_." At Remy's glare, Henri added. "Alright, fine, not another word about it."

"_Bon_."

There was silence for a long time, filled with the slight noises made from Remy's lock-picking. Henri kept fidgeting in the air duct; drumming his fingers, then tapping them, then it sounded like he was sucking on his teeth or something (Remy didn't really want to know). Finally, about ten minutes later, Remy had had it.

"Oh _mon Dieu_! Fine, if it'll make ya keep quiet her name's Rogue." He shouted, in a state of high annoyance with his brother.

"What's dat? Didn't hear ya, was too distracted by boredom."

"Her name's Rogue." Remy repeated.

"Who's name?"

"De girl ya been beggin' me t' tell ya about fo' de past twenty minutes!"

"Oh. So ya were t'inkin' about a girl."

"When I get up dere, I am gonna kill you."

"Oh hush, you'll do no such t'ing." Henri said. "So, Rogue, eh?"

"_Oui._ Dat's her name."

"Isn't dat de name of de _femme_ dat you've broken up wit' about four times? De one dat can't touch?" Henri asked.

Remy nodded even though his brother could not see it. "De very same."

"So ya back t'gether wit' her or somet'in'?"

"_Non_."

"Ya wanna get back t'gether wit' her?"

"_Dieu non!_" Remy replied emphatically. "She stayin' wit' me fo' a while and she done not'in' but get on my last nerve."

"Let me see if I got dis straight." Henri said. "You livin' wit' dis girl fo' de time bein' and yet ya got no interest in sleepin' wit' her?"

Remy hesitated before speaking. "I wouldn't say _no_ interest. After all, she's pretty damn hot--"

"Whoa, wait, how hot we talkin' here? Remember, I never seen dis _femme_, so I t'ink I need a visual aid." Henri interrupted. "Like Madonna hot or Lindsay Lohan hot?"

"Mo' like Angelina Jolie hot." Remy said. "Or Pam Anderson durin' _Baywatch_ hot."

"Before or after de implants?"

"After."

Henri whistled low. "If you don't want her, I'll take her off yo' hands."

"I'm tellin' Mercy ya said dat."

"Don't you dare or I'll let Marius know where ya are." Henri threatened. "I mean, c'mon it's not everyday dat ya got a girl who's Pam Anderson _Baywatch_ hot, right in front of ya and ain't completely nuts. Ya be stupid not t' at least _try_ and bag her."

Remy laughed darkly. "_Au contraire, mon frere_. She is crazy, believe me. Dis girl got more issues dan _National Geographic_."

"So den what's yo' problem? If she's nuts, den why ya t'inkin' about her so much?"

Remy sighed. "Crazy as she might be, she still a friend of mine, kinda. So t'day I go and say somet'in'--I don't even know what--dat got her madder dan a wet hen. I'm t'inkin' mebbe I need t' go and make it up t' her."

Henri tittered disapprovingly. "Ya better watch yo'self, _frere_. Ya may not want her back now, but if you ain't careful ya gonna be headin' dat way real soon."

"Ah, shut up." Remy said. "Ya don't even got enough brains t' realize dat I been done wit' dis lock for ten minutes."

They almost got out without being detected. But then Henri screwed up and they ended up brawling with a couple of guards to get out before the real cops came. The sun was rising as Remy limped his way up the front walk to his house. Damn, he had fucked up that landing after jumping out that window more than he thought. Hopefully he'd be able to sleep off all of his aches and pains and maybe he'd be able to hide the bruise under his left eye with sunglasses. Rogue never did like it when he stole something and he didn't feel like putting up with her nagging.

"Looks like ya had quite the night."

Remy looked up to see Rogue leaning up against the doorway. Fuck, he was caught. "Rogue, I can--"

She held up a hand to silence him. "Ah know where ya were. Ah heard the sirens earlier."

Remy braced himself for a lecture. This was the part where she would go off on a tirade about how he could have gotten killed or caught and could be rotting in jail right now and all these other could-be's that weren't.

"C'mon, let's get ya inside and cleaned up. Ya look like hell." She held a hand out for him to take.

Remy looked at her bare hand and then up at her. "Did ya hit yo' head or somet'in'?"

"What?"

"Yo' standin' dere in a tanktop and short-shorts, not wearin' any gloves and ya ain't yellin' at me about thievin'. Who are ya and what have ya done wit' Rogue?"

Rogue bit her lip and made a reluctant face before speaking. "Mah powers seem ta be gone for now. Ah figure since Ah'm on vacation, Ah may as well enjoy tha freedom and relax a bit."

"Why didn't ya tell me dat earlier?" He asked, climbing up the stairs, leaning on the railing heavily.

Rogue shrugged. "Ah was afraid it would jinx it or somethin'."

Remy nodded understandingly and reached the top of the steps. "Ya wouldn't mind helpin' an Ol' Cajun clean himself up, would ya? I'd do it myself if I wasn't afraid I'd fall asleep standin' up."

"C'mon Swamp Rat, before ya hurt yaself tryin' ta be all brave for a gal."

Remy was quiet the entire time Rogue patched him up. He had a cut on his forehead and minor cuts on his arms apparently from jumping through a window in an effort to escape. She decided to bite her tongue and keep her thoughts to herself, after all it looked like Remy had had enough stress for one night. As she swabbed his injuries clean, she couldn't help but notice the muscles under his skin, how it was warm and firm with strength. She couldn't help but notice the stubble growing on his chin and jaw and the way he looked as his eyes drifted shut while she worked.

"S'soft." Remy said quietly when she was almost done.

"What?"

"Yo' skin." Remy said, opening his eyes. "It's soft."

A small smile curved Rogue's lips. "Thank ya."

"So what happened? How come yo' powers don't work dis time?"

Rogue shrugged. "Ah don't know. Ah don't remember what happened. All Ah know is that Ah woke up on the side of Interstate 59 on the Mississippi/Louisiana border."

Remy grabbed her wrist and held it as she tried to apply a band aid to the cut on his forehead. He felt this sudden and strong need to protect her, to go out and find whoever did that to her. "_Quoi_?"

"Ah know, Ah know. It's bad, but Ah can't for the life of me remember what Ah was doin' before then. Believe me, Ah've been tryin' ta, but all Ah can come up with is goin' ta some abandoned house in Caldecott."

"What were ya doin' in Caldecott?" Remy still had not let go of her wrist.

"Personal business." Rogue replied cryptically. Remy stared her down for more answers, but Rogue did not yield any. With a sigh of defeat, Remy broke eye contact and the lessened grip he had on her wrist. Rogue finished applying the bandage. "There. All done."

Remy stood with a slight grunt and a wince. He was bare inches from her when he did so, towering over her. His hand was still loosely wrapped around her wrist and he slid it down to grasp her hand in his. He then brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her bare knuckles. "_Merci_." He whispered, dark eyes staring straight into hers.

He dropped her wrist and Rogue swallowed. They stood there for a moment, the heat and tension between them seeming to warm the room. He moved in slightly towards her and Rogue closed her eyes and put and hand on his muscled chest to stop him. "Good night Remy." Without another word she turned and left for her own room.


	4. The Dance We Do

_Hot Bayou Nights_  
Chapter 4  
The Dance We Do

"Remy. . . .Remy, wake up. . ."

The voice was angelic, soft. It was like velvet for his ears. Again it beckoned him, this time shaking his shoulder gently.

"Remy, please wake up."

Remy breathed in and opened his eyes slowly. What he fist saw was a woman's back. She was sitting on the edge of his bed with out a stitch of clothing on. Well, that was always a good way to start off the day. Licking his lips, his eyes traveled upward to see a beautiful face looking over her shoulder at him, her face framed by auburn and white curls.

"Rogue!" He yelped, jerking back in bed. "What de hell are ya doin'?"

She giggled and twisted a bit to lean forward over him. "What's it look like Ah'm doin'?"

"Uh. . ." Remy swallowed as his eyes darted down to her bare chest for a long second and then back up to her face. "Somet'in' yo' not supposed t' be?"

She giggled again, moving to almost outright lie on top of him. She then smiled in a way that made him very happy on some primitive level in his brain. "Somethin' tells me Ah'm doin' exactly what Ah need ta be."

She kissed him then, her lips soft and warm against his. Involuntarily, his hands went to her shoulders and then smoothed down her back, resting at the small briefly before traveling back up.

"Wait, _non_, dis ain't right. We shouldn't be doin' dis." He said, suddenly pushing her away.

"What in tha world are ya talkin' about? Ah've seen the way ya been lookin' at me." She trailed a hand down his chest, following it with her eyes down to his stomach. When she looked back up at him, her eyes were hooded with desire. "Certainly ya seen tha way Ah've been lookin' at ya." Her voice was a low purr as her hand went further down between them, stopping at the inside of his thigh. Remy had to remind himself to breathe his mind was so addled with lust, confusion and anticipation.

She leaned forward more, so that her lips were against his ear. When she spoke, the way they brushed against his ear was mesmerizing. "C'mon Remy," she whispered. "Ah know ya want ta."

When Remy opened his eyes that had drifted shut, it was his undoing. Those green eyes of hers filled with so much want for him and her luscious body over him made him throw caution to the wind and kiss her hard. He flipped her over so she as on her back and continued to kiss her almost desperately. Soon his boxers had come off and he was thrusting into her with unbridled passion. Oh she was divine, absolutely divine. Soft and smooth and hot and wet and calling his name over and over as she came around him, tightening to the point where--

Remy woke up suddenly with a startled gasp. He looked around, breathing heavy and confused for a moment before realizing he had fallen out of bed

"Everythin' alright up there?" He heard Rogue's voice call from the stairs.

Remy froze momentarily, irrational fear that she knew what he had been dreaming about racing through him. Pushing the images from his mind, he replied, "_Oui_. Jus' fell outta bed is all."

"Ya alright?"

"Fine." He called back. "Jus' fine." He muttered again, picking himself up from the floor. He could tell this morning was going to have 'AWKWARD' written all over it.

Remy got dressed and appeared down stairs twenty minutes later. Rogue was sitting at the table, reading the paper with a half eaten bagel sitting on plate in front of her.

"Mornin' _chere_." He said upon opening the refrigerator and looking for something to eat, purposely not making eye contact with her.

"Mornin'." She replied shortly.

Something about her reply made him look back at her. She was subtly trying to bury her nose further into the paper. He kept one hand in the fridge, making idle noises so as not to rouse her suspicion. About a minute and a half later, she was still reading the same line. Remy smiled to himself and turned his full attention to the contents of the fridge. At least he wasn't the only one who had trouble sleeping.

Rogue kept her attention focused on the paper in front of her while Remy went about making his breakfast. Stupid sexy Cajun and his stupid muscles and her stupid powers for leaving her. Rogue turned the page viciously, cranky from having been woken up at least three times in the middle of the night, sweaty and panting and the images of a naked Remy fading from her mind's eye. What was the matter with her? The only thing that had happened between them last night was that odd little staring fit and suddenly she was having dreams that would put the Internet porn video "A Night in Paris" to shame.

The phone rang, making both of them jump.

Remy picked it up. "_Bonjour_." Rogue could tell by the look on his face that it wasn't someone he wanted to talk to. "_Non_, can't. I'm busy t'night." He said. He listened for a few moments, the person on the other end speaking louder as Rogue could catch just about every other word. "_Je suis desole chere_, but I'm a busy man." The way he quickly slid a... (guilty?) look her way told Rogue that he obviously did not want her to know that he was talking to one of his bimbos that he kept wrapped around his fingers. Rogue shook her head and actually started reading a nice little article about some wetlands preserve.

"Why don't I call ya some time?" Remy said, and hung up.

"Girl trouble?" Rogue asked as Remy sat down.

"_Non_."

"Liar." Rogue mumbled under her breath.

"Heard dat."

Rogue shrugged in an 'I-don't-care' manner. It was quiet for a few moments, Remy eating and Rogue reading.

"Look, I'm sorry about yesterday." Remy said. "I was outta line and I shouldn't have said what I said."

Rogue looked up at him skeptically. "Are you . . . _apologizing'_?"

Remy nodded. "While I'm at it, 'bout last night. . ."

"Forget it." Rogue said, waving it off with her hand and returning her attention to the paper. "Ah already have."

"Alright." Remy said, with a satisfied smirk on his face. He leaned back in his chair, put his feet up on the table and folded his arms over his chest, balancing in a way that few others could.

"So, did ya have a nice time playin' tourist yesterday?"

Rogue stopped reading yet did not look up at Remy. He was up to something, she could hear it in his voice. "Yes, Ah did as a matter of fact."

Remy snorted. "No ya didn't. Ya only _t'ink_ ya had a good time."

Rogue finally looked up at him, an eyebrow arched. "What are ya talkin' about Cajun? Did ya hit your head fallin' outta bed this mornin'?"

For a split second, Remy tensed, fleshy images from his dream flashing through his mind. "_Non_." He shook his head. "Jus' know dat dem tourist groups don't know shit 'bout havin' a good time in N'Awlin's."

"And lemme guess, Ah suppose you're an expert in that?"

"Damn straight." Remy said with a curt nod. "How about I take ya out on de town and show ya what N'Awlin's in really all about?"

Rogue leered at him suspiciously for a long moment. "Why are ya doin' this? Ah could barely get ya ta sit through dinner and a movie before and now ya blowin' off your bimbos just ta hang out with me?"

"Fine den." Remy said, somewhat snappishly. "I won't take ya out and I call can Sharon back right now and ya can spend de night at home . . . _again_."

Rogue glared at him. "Ah didn't say Ah wouldn't go. Ah was just wonderin' why ya would do somethin' like this."

"'Cause I can!" Remy sat forward in his chair with a loud thump and got up to storm out of the room. "'Cause yo' better conversation den all dose other _filles_, dere's a million reasons, take yo' pick." He said on his way out.

Rogue sighed unhappily and a few moments later heard the sounds of a motorcycle being started up.

_Leave it ta us ta turn goin' out on a friendly date inta a fight. _She dropped her head into her hands_. . . .Ah haven't a thing ta wear._

* * *

When Remy came back from his motorcycle ride, Rogue was gone. She left no note, so Remy assumed that she had done the same thing he did and gone out to clear her head. He didn't mean to snap at her like that, but he never dealt well with sexual tension. Usually it was because he could just get rid of it with a voracious kiss that lead to more satisfying things. He couldn't do that with Rogue because she would probably slap him or knee him in the groin. Probably both. If her night was anything like the way he had woken up this morning, then she needed to get away from him as much as he had needed to get away from her. So maybe he had done them both a favor by getting out of the house. Sometimes, for extremely brief, fleeting moments, Remy hated how sex or anything related to it could make things so needlessly complicated between people. Have sex with your best friend's girlfriend? Well, one could kiss that friendship goodbye, right after a fist fight too. Have sex with a girl and then never call her back? There'd always be at least one person who could call you at three am for some reason while you're having sex with another girl. Or, there'd always be one person who would punch your lights out at a drop of a hat. Depended upon the type of girl, really. Have a sex dream about your friend? Probably going to spend the next day avoiding them and not looking them in the eye. Remy sighed as he collapsed on the couch, beer in hand. He had no idea why he had been so snappish at Rogue after she asked why he wanted to take her out. It was a strange idea, but Remy thought he might have actually panicked at not having a straight answer. He didn't have any reason for taking her out, he just wanted to go out and have a good time. With her. And what was he going to do for this date-thing? Idly flipping through the channels, Remy damned himself for not thinking things through sometimes. On her first day here, Rogue had gone traversing all over the city; what was left for him to show her? 

_Ah, but she only probably seen all dem tourist traps._ Remy thought, rubbing his stubbled chin. _Mebbe I show her all de secret places dat no one else know about._

As a rerun of _Frasier _aired on the television, Remy planned a night out that he was sure Rogue wouldn't forget anytime soon. After all, the girl deserved it. Waking up on the side of an interstate (which still unnerved him to a great extent and he reminded himself to ask her about it later), hitchhiking her way here and then staying with arrogant jerk like him who was also her ex-boyfriend? Remy wasn't sure if he would be able to do the same without physically lashing out at some innocent by standers on the street. He sure as hell didn't even want to think about what could have happened to her while she hitchhiked or why she even was on the side of a highway with no memory of how she got there. Without her powers, she could have been raped, kidnapped, robbed, hit by a car, stabbed, mugged . . . no, he did not want to think about them at all. Remy finished the rest of his beer in one gulp, belching loudly a few seconds later. Better start making some phone calls, calling in favors and making reservations if he wanted this to go right.

* * *

Rogue had decided to go shopping while Remy went off and played with his motorcycle or whatever the hell it was that he had left to do in such a huff. All she did was ask a simple question and she got a snappish attitude and stormed out on. It wasn't like she asked him a deeply personal question about his shady past, all she wanted to know was why he was suddenly bending over backwards to make some silly little mistake right. 

_That boy needs ta learn a lesson. . ._ Rogue thought as she browsed the apparel in Bloomingdale's. _No one treats me like that, least of all him. Of all people he should know that._ Rogue's eyes lighted on the dresses in the women's department. _And Ah'll make sure his credit card statement drives my point home. _She smiled as she remembered that she had grabbed Remy's credit card on her way out the door. It had been just been sitting there in his wallet on the counter next to Remy's car keys, begging her to take it along with her. And who was she to refuse something that spent most of its days in tight, hot, leather and next to someone's butt?

The first dress Rogue tried on was black, but she decided that she didn't like the cut of it. The next was a silvery gray, but made her look like she belonged on one of those dancing disco cages from 1975. A deep purple dress followed and that was followed by a blue one. Neither of them worked, in Rogue's opinion. There was a nice green dress that Rogue considered getting, but she also wore a lot of green and owned a lot of green things and in the end decided not to buy it. Hours and countless dresses later, Rogue found it. It was a deep red that stopped a few inches above her knees. It fit snugly but wasn't tight and felt pleasant against her skin. Spaghetti straps held it up and little tiny fake diamonds went horizontally along the top. Rogue smiled at her reflection in the mirror and then frowned. She didn't have shoes to match it.

_Ah do have Remy's credit card . . . Ah'm sure he won't mind. _Rogue quickly changed out of the dress and headed over to the shoe department where she found suitable shoes to go with the dress in a considerably less amount of time than it took to find the dress. As she handed the card to the cashier, Rogue was reminded about her earlier thought about Remy's card and figured that probably most of the women in New Orleans would want to trade places with the little piece of plastic. The thought served only to make her slightly more irritated with Remy. What gave him the right to go around and play with women's hearts like they were balls of yarn and he a cat?

_Ah bet'cha he probably thinks this whole goin' out thing tanight will butter me up so he can finally get me in his bed. Logan always did say that Ah was just the ultimate challenge for the ultimate ladies man. . . Now that my powers are gone--for the time bein'--that damned Cajun probably thinks most of his work is done. _Rogue took the bag with her purchases from the cashier and headed for Remy's car.

_Looks like Ah'll have'ta show that Cajun that Ah ain't one'a his hussies who'll just literally lie down and roll over for him._

* * *

"Where have ya been?" Remy glanced down at the bags Rogue was carrying in from the car. "Please tell me dere ain't mo' of dose in de backseat or somet'in'." 

"No, just this." Rogue said, shouldering past Remy who was standing in the door way.

"What did ya buy den?"

"Nothin'." She tossed over her shoulder, already on the stairs.

"Hold on." Remy said, grabbing her wrist. "Where you goin' so fast?"

Rogue gave him an obvious look. "Upstairs. Where Ah been living' the past few days." She pulled her wrist out of his grasp easily and continued up the stairs with out a backwards glance.

Remy looked after her with a raised eyebrow. Girls were so weird sometimes.

"C'mon _chere, _we gonna be late!" Remy called up the stairs about an hour later. It never ceased to amaze him how women could take so long to get ready. What did they possibly do that took near an hour or more on average? It only took him maybe twenty minutes to throw on his shirt and pants and get cleaned up.

"Hold your horses!" He heard Rogue call back from the depths of her bedroom.

Remy sighed and dropped his shoulders, pacing in the hallway between the front door and the kitchen. What had she been doing in there since she had gotten home and disappeared into her room? Remy started toying with his keys, passing them back and forth in his hands while waiting for Rogue. About ten minutes later, he got his answer as to what she had been doing.

Remy stopped in his tracks when he saw her. She looked amazing. Her hair was done up in a twist so that the white forelocks fell around her face in the most angelic way. The dress...that dress was perfect on her. The desire to slide off one strap of her dress off her shoulder and then kiss where it had been filled Remy completely for a second before Rogue's giggling snapped him back to reality.

"What's so funny?"

"You." Rogue said, coming down the rest of the stairs and picking something up off the floor in front of him. "Here, ya dropped these." She said, handing him his keys. "And shut your mouth, ya letting' in all the flies." She then sash-shaded past him and out onto the front porch.

Remy shut his mouth and swallowed, following her. He hadn't even realized he'd dropped his keys. "Ya look . . . nice." He wanted to say something along the lines of 'outrageously gorgeous' or 'breathtaking' or 'unbelievably sexy' but forced himself to bite his tongue. It wasn't like he was falling for her again . . . right?

"Thank ya." Rogue smiled. "Ya don't look so bad ya self."

"What? Dis old t'ing?" Remy replied with a smirk and then offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

"Ah think we shall." Rogue smiled and took Remy's arm.

The night started out at a small jazz club that from the outside looked like a dodgy dive of a bar in a side alley. Rogue was surprised when they stepped inside to see a cozy little restaurant with soul-stirring blues emanating from the stage. There was a small dance floor and small, two-person sized tables littered the area around the dance floor. Booths for bigger parties lined the walls, but of course she and Remy were seated at one of the smaller tables.

"This is nice." Rogue commented upon sitting down.

"_Oui._" Remy agreed. "I like it here, de music's good." He picked up his menu. "Soy's de food."

Rogue opened her menu and felt her eyebrows creep up on her forehead. "Remy, this place is a little…"

"Relax _chere_, I got everything covered." To Rogue, it sounded like he had practically purred the sentence. "You just enjoy yo'self."

Rogue kept her eyes pinned on Remy for a moment longer before casting her gaze down to browse the menu some more. A waiter came by a few moments later to take their drink orders and Remy ordered a bottle of wine.

"You're not tryin' ta get me drunk, are ya?" Rogue inquired, raising a brow.

"Now why would I want t' go and do a silly t'ing like dat?" He rested his cheek on his palm, gazing intently at her. "Sides, I thought ya couldn't with yo' powers and all."

"Lord, you forget things fast. Must be all that drinkin'." She laid a hand on top of his to demonstrate her point. "They're gone, remember?"

Remy nodded slightly, eyes on her hand which was on his. It was the first time Rogue had ever willingly touched him without gloves. The time in the bathroom last night didn't count because she had to touch him or else he probably would have wound up hurting himself more trying to patch himself up. Any other time when she had "lost" her powers, their absence was either too short lived to act upon it or they were on the outs again. Her hand moved away from his and Remy felt like he was being snapped out of a trance. "Soft hands." It barely came out above a whisper.

"What did ya say?"

Remy cleared his throat and shook his head, finally taking his eyes off his hand and back to her beautiful face. Oh _Dieu_, what was he getting himself into? Suddenly the knowledge that she was sitting across from him in that sexy red dress and he could touch her was too overwhelming. It wasn't really the fact that he _could_ touch her, it was that he _wanted_, and wanted it badly at that, to touch her.

"Remy. Knock it off."

"Huh?" Remy started. "_Desole chere_. I blanked out for a second, what did ya say?"

"Ah said stop starin' at me like that." She adjusted one of the straps of her dress. "Ya were freakin' me out."

"_Desole_." He apologized again. "Yo' hands are really soft."

"Oh, thanks." She smiled, looking at them herself. "Ah guess keepin' them covered up all the time will do that ta them."

"I guess so." Remy said as the waiter came back with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. He then asked for their orders which Rogue and Remy gave to him. As the waiter left, a slow sensuous and sultry jazz song came on that seemed to cast a spell over the place.

"Wanna dance?" Remy asked, holding out a hand.

"Only if ya keep ya hands ta yaself." Rogue smirked.

"What de point den?" Remy smirked back, getting up and taking her hand. He led her over to the dance floor and Rogue suddenly felt like she was at some silly school dance about to dance with her secret crush. He put his other hand on the small of her back and she put her free hand up on his shoulder while their occupied hands stayed joined out to the side.

"Ya really do look nice t'night, _chere_." Remy said.

"Thank ya." Rogue smiled. "You paid for it."

Remy chuckled and shook his head. "I figured as much." He dipped her down low, allowing himself an opportunity to admire her body stretched and arched beneath him. "Though I'm glad I helped bring a beautiful vision such as yo'self in dat dress t' life."

"Remy, if Ah didn't know any better, Ah'd say you were flirtin' with me." Rogue said upon her return to an upright position. _And that Ah'm likin' it_.

"You know me _p'tite_, I flirt with all de women." He said in a low, sexy voice, their faces scant inches apart. He suddenly felt very warm, like he was standing in front of a fire. Hell, where their skin touched it felt like fire, almost like the feeling he got when he was charging something.

"Ah know." Rogue said, just as quietly. "Used ta get ya inta a lot of trouble."

"What about now?" He asked in the same sultry tone. "Am I about t' get int' a lot of trouble?"

"Depends." Rogue said, raising one shoulder in a half-shrug in an effort to hide the chill his voice sent down her spine.. "If ya keep usin' that cheesy-porno voice on me, Ah might just have ta smack it outta ya."

"I do not have a cheesy porno voice!" Remy said, offended to which Rogue just giggled at him. With a slight growl, Remy dipped her down low, whispering in her ear. "Dere's a whole lot of women who like my voice . . . ya used t' be one of dem."

"'Used ta' bein' the key phrase." Rogue replied, just as quietly. She was not going to fall for his charms, she was going to ignore the growing warmth in her tummy. And so she knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as she was on her feet again, able to see the brief look at flashed across Remy's face. Was it….hurt? Surely she had to be imagining it. But if she was imagining it and there was no real reason for any of them to be offended by her remark, then why was _she_ feeling like she said something cruel?

Remy smirked. "C'mon, _chere,_ don't lie. I know you secretly still get all hot and bothered by me."

Rogue snorted derisively, recovering from the moment. "As if."

"See, yo' just in denial about it."

She scoffed. "You, suh, are ridiculous!" She smacked him on the chest.

"And you, _mademoiselle_, are simply stunning."

Rogue's mouth dropped open, completely thrown by Remy's unexpected compliment. "Ah—"

"See? Yo' all flustered. Proves my point." He smiled cockily.

Her eyes narrowed and she fumed at him. "You tricked me!"

"Aw, c'mon now. Don't be mad, you can't help dat you just an amateur at dis."

"For your information, Ah am not an amateur at flirtin'!" She shot back. "Ah just don't resort ta bein' a pig; _Ah _just happen ta be more subtle. Which one would think a thief like _you_ would understand."

It was Remy's turn to scoff. "Please, _chere_, dere's a difference between bein' subtle and not doin' anyt'in' at all."

"Oh really?" Rogue challenged. "Who had ta pick his jaw up off the floor just before we left? _And_ dropped his keys?"

Remy narrowed his eyes at her for a moment. "_Touché_."

"Ha! That means Ah win!" She declared proudly.

"_Non_." He said, as if explaining it to a simple child. "Just means we're even, sort of."

"No, it means Ah win. Ya couldn't think of anythin' else ta say, so Ah win."

"Alright, fine, you win." Remy contested. "Can we please go back t' our table now befo' our food gets cold?"

"Sure." She smiled.

They returned to their table and tucked into their food, Rogue occasionally gloating about beating Remy at an argument. They finished, deciding to skip out on dessert and Remy paid for the meal, being the gentleman that he was. Then he scared the crap out of Rogue by driving like a maniac in his fast car through the streets of New Orleans, stopping in front of some building near the waterfront.

"Ah swear ta God, Ah need ta get my head examined if Ah ever set foot inta a car with ya again." Rogue said as she slammed the car door shut.

"It wasn't _dat_ bad." Remy said. "It was fun."

She gave him a look that plainly said 'you're crazy' before eyeing the building in front of them. "What the hell are we doin' here?"

"You'll see in a minute." He said, staring towards the building, gesturing for her to follow him.

They stopped in front of a side entrance and Rogue waited for him to open the door. It was after about ten seconds that she actually looked and saw Remy picking the lock.

"Remy! What are ya doin'?!" She exclaimed.

"Shh, calm down. S'okay, de family owns de buildin'."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "Oh, well, that makes me feel _so_ much better, knowin' what your family's inta."

"I know, don't it?" Remy half smiled as the door swung open before them. "After you, _chere_."

She stepped inside and looked up, seeing nothing but stairs. "Stairs? Ya expect me ta go up stairs in these shoes?"

"I can carry ya if ya can't make it t' de top." He offered, knowing that she wouldn't take the offer being a stubborn as she was.

The Mississippian huffed a breath. "Ah'll be fine." She said and started up the steps.

It didn't take long to get to the top considering the building was only five stories high. But still, it had Rogue panting slightly when they reached the top, which was the roof of the building. It was dark up here in part because they were in a quieter part of the city and everyone had long since gone to bed.

"Where are we" She asked, only being able to make out odd shapes in the darkness.

"Rooftop garden." Remy said and flicked a switch that illuminated some of the most beautiful and exotic looking plants she had ever seen. "S'where my _Tante_ Mattie gets all her healin' herbs and stuff. She also uses it t' get away from us boys when we get too annoyin' fo' her, but she don't tell nobody that."

"It's beautiful up here." She breathed, admiring all the beautiful flowers around her.

Remy picked a particularly tropical looking flower, walked over to Rogue and tucked her hair behind one ear. "_Non_," he said and place the flower there. "Now it's beautiful up here. _Tres jolie_."

"Remy." There was a light tone of admonishment in her voice and her cheeks turned a pretty pink color. "Ya better watch yourself."

"Or what?"

"Or you're gonna get your self inta trouble with me."

"_Chere_, I been wantin' t' get int' trouble with you since I saw you in dat dress."

A large smile curved her lips that made it look like she was in on the best secret in the world. "What?" Remy asked.

"Admit it, Ah'm better at arguin' than you are. Ah beat the master at his own game."

Remy rolled his eyes. He _let_ her win one little argument…. "If yo' so good at arguin', argue t' me why it's not a big deal dat ya woke up on de side of de road in de middle of nowhere."

The smug smile almost literally fell off of Rogue's face. "It's none of your business what Ah was doin' in Caldecott, Remy. Ah told ya, it was personal."

"I'm makin' it my business." He all but growled. "Ya tell me ya wake up on de side of de road with no memory of what happened, powerless, and ya expect me not t' be concerned? How do you know one of dem crazy psychos like Trask or Essex didn't kidnap ya?"

"Ah don't." Rogue replied, the falter of confidence clear in her voice. "But Ah won't know what happened until Ah go back there."

"Yo' goin' back?" Remy repeated. "Back where?"

"Ta that house Ah told ya about. It's the last thing Ah remember, so Ah figure Ah'll start there."

"When?"

"Ah was thinkin' maybe tamorrow."

"I'm goin' with you den."

"No you're not." Rogue said.

"Why not?" Remy demanded.

"'Cause it's my….thing. The Professor sent me here right before the team broke up and it's my past, my powers, my life. It's got nothin' ta do with you."

"Really?" Remy said, taking her chin in between his thumb and index finger and tilting her face up towards him. He kissed her then, softly moving his lips over hers, gradually becoming more insistent. Rogue made a low noise in her throat as Remy's other arm wrapped around her waist while her arms wrapped around his neck. Remy pulled away.

"Tell me ya don't feel dat," he whispered, gazing into her eyes, "and ya can go back t' Caldecott by yo'self t'morrow."

Her green eyes were shining, staring straight into his and her lips were parted ever so slightly. She tried to speak, failed, closed her mouth and tried again. "Remy…Ah'm-Ah'm sorry." It was barely a whisper.

He looked at her for a moment longer, eyes searching her face for something before speaking.

"It's okay _chere_. Let me take ya home."

* * *

A/N: Sorry I took so long to update, but hopefully this chapter and something that happens in the next chapter will make up for it. :) I am so sorry that I didn't get to all the reviews (really I am, but school is just hell) but I do love all the reviews you guys have been leaving, so keep them coming and I promise I will try to answer every single one! 

Mercedes Watson


	5. Crux

A/N: Sorry for the long wait.Hopefully this makes up for it, it was ten pages in Word. Enjoy!_  
_

_Hot Bayou Nights_  
Chapter 5  
Crux

Remy lay awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling. How did that happen? He had been having such a great time and he saw it in her eyes, (he saw it goddamnit!) in those haunting green eyes of hers, that she was having just as good a time as he was. He _couldn't_ have imagined all that chemistry between them, it was impossible to imagine that much. He would have to have been acting delusional and Rogue would have definitely called him out on that.

Remy growled in frustration and fisted his hands in his hair. Wasn't everyone always saying that they were fated to be together? That God or chance or whatever was up there would give them some magical moment and everything would click? Tonight would have had to been it. The dancing at the jazz club, the magic of _Tante_'s garden…it just seemed so _different_. Dates, to Remy, were usually a fun way to occupy his time with some interesting and beautiful company. Maybe once in a while it would develop into something more real, but sooner or later, Remy would lose interest and move onto the next girl. But Rogue, he just couldn't seem to get away from her. Hell, she had shown up on his door step after they had _purposely_ gone separate ways! If that wasn't fate or something staring him in the face, he didn't know what was.

Remy ran a hand through his hair again and rested it there. Maybe he was putting too much stock into what other people said. Maybe…maybe they just weren't meant to be together.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Those.

_Damn._

Frogs!

It had started raining shortly after her and Remy returned home, which had brought out the frogs and other water-loving creatures into the late night. Some of the frogs didn't even sound like frogs, they sounded like broken electronic buzzing things. And it was hot in here, but as soon as Rogue kicked off the covers she was chilly and pulled them back up and then shortly there after kicked them off again and on and on the cycle went. The bed was uncomfortable too and goddamnit, why was everything conspiring against her! She just wanted to go to sleep! With a harsh sigh, Rogue got up out of bed. Why couldn't she sleep? She'd been up all day and now most of the night too. She should have just crawled into bed and fallen fast asleep like a baby. But no, everything had decided to conspire against her, make her aware of everything going on; even the creaking of Remy's bed across the hall as he shifted in his sleep. Rogue stopped and sighed. _Geez, Remy…_ He wanted something from her, but she wasn't sure what. Did he want just a few fun rolls in the hay or did he want another try at a relationship? It wasn't that she didn't want one, because if she was honest with herself, the time she was spending here was rather nice, fun even. But what would happen when her powers came back? She wasn't going to go along with any of his crazy ideas that he supposedly had about being intimate without touching. Because she knew him and knew that when things would start getting hot, he would forget about their silly precautions and end up getting himself knocked out. And, if she was still being honest with herself, that kiss was _amazing_. She hadn't stuttered because she was afraid of hurting him; it was because that kiss had left her damn near speechless. So she was pretty sure that she would end up hurting him through her own fault too.

_But you don't have your powers now!_ A tiny voiced screamed in the back of her head. _Try it. See if you like it._

_But what if it's a mistake? What if things get even more screwed up between us?_

_What if it isn't?_

Rogue bit her lip in worried thought before shrugging her shoulders in a 'to-hell-with-it' manner before leaving her room and going across the hall.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Remy had been just about to drift off into a fitful sleep when he heard a knock at his door. "Remy? You awake?"

"_Oui._" He groggily answered. "S'matter?" He asked, propping himself up on one elbow and turning slightly to face her.

Her eyes traveled the length of his body before returning to his face. She stepped forward and cautiously sat on the edge of the bed, by his hip, the mattress dipping slightly under her weight.

His eyebrows constricted together in worry. "What's wrong _chere_?"

"Ah lied." She whispered. "Ah felt it too."

"_Remercier Dieu!_" He breathed, sitting up fully and seizing her face in his hands and crushing his lips to hers in a searing kiss. He kissed her long and hard, trying to drink all of her in. The tentative, unsure motions of her arms coming up to wrap around him reminded him of her innocence, not to rush this, to take it easy.

"Jus' say de words _chere_, and I'll stop if we're goin' too fast." He quietly said upon pulling away from the sweet embrace of her lips.

"It's okay." She replied, just as quietly. "Ah've actually done this before."

Despite himself, Remy smirked, curious. "When?"

"There were a few times, with the Brotherhood—not like that!" She added at seeing Remy's surprised expression. "When Ah was with the Brotherhood, there were a few times when Ah hit my head or somethin' else happened that Ah lost my powers. Went out drinkin' with the guys, got a little drunk…woke up the next mornin' in some guy's bed."

Remy sniggered. "Sounds remarkably similar t' my first time."

"You woke up in some strange guy's bed?" Rogue joked.

"_Non_." Remy said. "Not dat part. De other parts 'bout drinkin' with de guys."

"Hmm." Rogue smiled in amusement that quickly faded into a curious expression. "So Belle wasn't your…"

"… _Non_, she was." He answered her hanging question, shrugging slightly. "It was after I was out drinkin' with Henri and a few other guys dat I snuck int' her bedroom…Marius sho' was pissed at me after dat." He noticed that Rogue had suddenly become very interested in picking at a spot on the comforter. He tilted her chin towards him with his thumb and forefinger. "Hey, I'm here with _you_ now. All dat other stuff don't matter." He leaned in slowly, giving her the opportunity to pull away. When she didn't he kissed her again, this time much softer. Soon, he was lying back down on the bed, taking Rogue with him. His hands smoothed down her body, sneaking under her nightshirt (really just some over-sized t-shirt). His hands came to rest on her hips, thumbs tracing intricate patterns on the skin there. She was better than he dreamed, he knew, and all he had done so far was kiss her.

Rogue sighed as Remy's lips moved down her jaw to her neck, nuzzling the sensitive skin there. Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own, traveling along Remy's strong biceps, up to his shoulders and then burying themselves in his hair, commanding his lips back to hers for an insistent, passionate kiss. Fire tore through her as Remy's hands traveled up her body, stopping at her breasts and teasing her nipples. She broke her lips away from his to sigh, dropping her head down into the crook of his neck. She bit down gently on the rim of his ear, feeling more than hearing Remy's moan reverberate through her. She kissed her way down his jaw next, creating a path down his neck and to his chest. All the while as she moved down his body, Remy kept a firm grip on her nightshirt, causing it to gather up beneath her breasts. She took the hint and rose up on her knees in such a way so that when she was upright, the entire shirt was in Remy's hands and she was just as shirtless as he was.

Remy's eyes hotly raked over the exposed parts of her body before smirking slightly and throwing the shirt aside. He pulled her back down to him and kissed her, running his hands up and down her curves. Soft and hard in all the right places. His lips dropped kisses along her neck and down to her shoulder, pausing to gently sink his teeth into the skin there. He pushed Rogue back slightly so that he was now sitting up with her straddled over his lap so as to gain better access to her breasts with his lips. Her gasp as he closed his mouth over one peak sent his heart rate skyrocketing, feverishly pumping blood to lower regions. He flickered his tongue over her nipple while his hands teasingly caressed her thighs, threatening to touch her, but never giving her the satisfaction.

All of Remy's actions were driving Rogue right up to the brink of release. She cried out as he gently bit down on one nipple before moving over to pay the same attention to her other breast. She ground her hips against his body, seeking some kind of relief from the torture that Remy's hands were putting her through. The heat of her core moved directly over Remy's boxer-entrapped erection, a deep moan coming from Remy as a result. She continued the action, driven by both a need for some sort of relief and what it was doing to Remy. He held her tight and moaned again, his own hips rising to meet hers. She planted her hand on either side of his face and kissed him passionately as his hands gripped her hips and held her against his tented boxers.

They fell back against the bed, Remy's hand moving to quickly divest Rogue of her underwear. Rogue quickly returned the favor and where their skin met was like fire and electricity. It wasn't long before Remy was sliding into her, the both of them all moans and groping hands and sloppy-with-want kisses. They started at a fast clip, completion so close for the both of them. Remy's hand wandered down from where it had been kneading Rogue's breast to where they were joined and swirled his thumb around her clit. Rogue cried out as her orgasm hit her hard, falling onto Remy as her body went slack but her hips kept moving against his hand. He hadn't been too far form his own completion when Rogue clenched around him with release and a few thrusts after Rogue had spent herself, Remy bit off a groan, back arching off the bed and released into her.

They laid there for a few long moments, just breathing. Eventually Rogue slowly picked her head up, a lock of wildly curly and slightly damp hair falling into her face.

"Wow." She murmured, a sleepy look on her face.

Remy lifted his head to return her gaze. "Hmm?"

"Your reputation is well deserved." She smiled lazily and shifted so that she lay beside Remy.

Remy let out a short, soft note of dry laughter and grazed his hand up and down Rogue's arm. "_Oui_, guess it is."

Rogue lifted her head off of his shoulder and shot him a puzzled look. "Somethin' the matter sugh?"

He shook his head. "_Non_."

Rogue let it drop and laid her head back down on Remy's shoulder, but did not relax. She thought she could handle sleeping with Remy just for the hell of it, for the experience, just to try it out. But as a strange feeling started to settle in her chest, Rogue knew that that wasn't how things were probably going to play out. Remy had shown her a side of himself that she rarely got to see and, well, he was really good in bed. Of course, that latter was less important, but it was still a plus.

_Ah think Ah might actually want another try with Remy._ Rogue worried her lip as that realization washed over her, accompanied by the visualization of what would happen when her powers came back.

Remy's voice broke her thoughts. "Everyt'in' okay _chere_?"

She quickly tried to shut herself off from her feelings, forgetting about Remy's erratic empathy. "Everythin's fine…Just, tired is all."

She could hear Remy's smile as they got comfortable and he pulled the covers over them. It was time to stop fooling around and get down to what the Professor had originally sent her down here for.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next morning, Rogue awoke before Remy. She rolled over and studied him for a few quiet moments, eyes traveling the lines of his face and what was exposed of his body. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. Maybe it would be better for her to just leave him that way and not wake him and worry him about where she was going. But what if the same thing that had happened before, happened again? Who was to say that she would be so lucky the second time?

Something flitted across her memory, a car maybe, or some unknown guy or maybe it was a guy in the car? Rogue shook her head. It was useless to think she would remember anything new. One last look at Remy and Rogue decided she wasn't taking him. She got out of bed as quietly as she could and went back across the hall to her room. There were things about her past…bad things. Things that came out in the middle of the night but when she woke up panting and in a cold sweat, she could never remember it. She knew it would be best not to expose Remy to that and let him know just how truly messed up she was.

Rogue dressed herself in denim shorts and a white tank top, still reveling in the novelty that she could dress just like everyone else during the summer. It was so freeing…Her eyes landed on her green corduroy backpack and she debated whether to take it with her or not and decided on the former. She grabbed the bag and snuck as quietly as she could out of her room. As she went down the stairs, she kept an eye out in the direction of Remy's bedroom, ears tuned for any kind of noise.

"Where ya goin'?"

"Oh Jesus!" Rogue yelped and whipped her head around to see Remy standing at the bottom of the steps. He had on sweatpants and a cup of coffee was gently steaming in one hand. "Don't scare me like that." She lightly admonished, putting a hand to her chest briefly.

"_Desole_." Remy apologized. He waited for a few quick moments for Rogue to answer his question before prompting her with a "So…?"

"Ah'm goin' back ta Caldecott." Her voice was an odd mix of confidence and caution as she shifted her bag on her shoulder.

"Alone?"

"Yeah."

Remy shook his head. "Try again."

"Remy—" Rogue began in a sharp tone, but stopped, dropped her shoulders and sighed; starting over. "Look, this is my thing ta do. Ah'm sure if you—"

"Did common sense leave ya too?" Remy interrupted, putting his coffee cup down on a small table by the door. "You woke up on de side of de road and _don't remember_ anyt'in'!"

"Ah can take care of mahself, Remy." She stated firmly. "Ah don't need ya ta protect me."

Remy felt a strange twisting in his chest at her words and it only served to fuel his ire over her doing something so stupid. He took a few steps towards the stairs, one foot resting on the first riser. "Yes, you do." He felt stupid and childish for saying it aloud, but it was true.

Rogue's eyes widened with incredulous anger. "Ah do not!"

"Do too!"

"Now you lissen here—"

"No, _you _lissen here!" Before he knew it, Remy had taken the last few steps between them and was on the stair below Rogue, eye level with her. His hands were on her upper arms, fingers pressing into her skin but not causing any pain. "If anyt'in' ever happened t' you, I'd never fo'give my self!" He looked her dead in the eyes, his own filled with passion. "What if ya end up in some serial killer's basement? Or some anti-mutant mob finds ya? Did ya ever t'ink about dat? 'Cause I know I been up alright t'inkin' about it."

Rogue was struck by the sheer amount of emotion in Remy's eyes, in his voice and what was written all over his face. Had he always been like this or was it some result of their heated tryst last night?

The only thing she could do was to wrap her arms around him and try not to let her emotions get the best of her. "Why are ya sayin' all the things Ah've needed ta hear from ya, now?"

Remy pulled away slightly and brushed his fingers along her cheek. "I t'ink maybe it's because with yo' powers gone, yo' finally lettin' me love ya."

Immediately Rogue felt the urge to protest, and loudly at that, but she knew in her heart that he was right. He always told her it was never about touch and that she could trust him and that she didn't have to worry about hurting him. It had always been her to shy away, her to say no, her to be mistrustful. Maybe she had needed them to be normal around each other before she could be comfortable when her powers were involved.

She leaned in and kissed him soundly, both hands gripping either side of his face. She could tell Remy hadn't been expecting her to do that, but he soon started to respond in kind, slipping his tongue into her mouth.

Rogue broke away after a few moments of tangled tongues, but kept their foreheads touching. "Ah'm sorry." She quickly retuned to the kiss, but only got a few seconds worth in before Remy stopped her.

"Sorry fo' what?"

"For not trustin' ya before."

Remy smiled softly. "S'alright _chere_. I knew you'd come around some day."

Rogue smiled and his lips found hers again as his hands traveled down her curves to her hips where they firmly grasped her butt and lifted her off the ground. She caught on to Remy's idea and wrapped her legs around his waist, making it easier for him to carry her upstairs.

"Where we goin'?" Rogue asked, a fair amount of breathiness to her voice as he bit her neck gently. She may have been able to figure out that Remy wanted to pick her up, but she wasn't really sure exactly how far this was going to go.

"Bed." Was Remy's simple response that told her exactly where this was going to end up.

The next moment she was collapsing back onto the bed with Remy's weight on top of her. Hands roamed and kisses trailed, clothes came off at a steady rate. Just as she thought they were going to move into the main act, Remy stopped and pulled away, kneeling over her.

"Got a surprise fo' ya."

Rogue looked down at the hard length between his legs and made a pseudo-non-plussed face. "Sugah, Ah think Ah already know what it is."

"Smart mouth." He said, poking her nose with a finger. "But dat's only part of it." He reached out to the nightstand next to the bed and opened the drawer.

"Uh, Remy…"

"Relax." He assured her, pulling out a rather large mass of gossamer fabric. He threw some of it over her head and leaned back down over her, pressing his lips to hers for a brief moment.

"Remy…were, were we just kissin'?"

"_Oui_." He said, barely above a whisper as he trailed more kisses along her jaw. "But you only t'ink dat were touchin'."

Rogue sat up and held the material in her hands with a kind of awed expression. "Where in the word did ya get this?"

"Morocco." Remy simply replied.

Rogue gave him a puzzled look. "When were you in Morocco?"

He shrugged. "Couple years ago. Was in a sort of …._gentlemen's_ club and de _femme_ up on stage was wearin' somet'in' made out of dat." He pointed to the material Rogue was currently holding up in front of her face.

Rogue dropped the material into her lap. "Ya were in a strip club and thinkin' of me?"

"I've said it befo' _chere_, dis Cajun's got it bad fo'ya."

She smiled wryly. "Ah don't know whether ta be flattered or creeped out."

"Figure it out later." He said with a tiny tint of command to his voice as he pushed her back down on the bed and threw the material fully over her. It unfurled in the air and landed to cover most of her body. He adjusted it so that it covered all of her but also made sure that it was not tight, leaving her room to move underneath it and such. "How's dat?"

Rogue nodded. "Good… but weird."

Remy covered her body with his and leaned down to nuzzle her neck. "Mebbe I can fix dat."

Rogue sighed happily. "Keep doin' that and we'll be just fine."

He obeyed her request and kept applying his tongue and lips to her neck in ways that made Rogue very happy. Slowly, he moved his lips down her chest like he was whispering a sacred prayer against her skin. He stopped and rested his cheek on Rogue's breast. Neither of them moved for a few moments and Rogue was just happy to have him near. Then Remy's fingers began drifting with a feather-light touch down her body.

"Remy, that tickles!" She giggled.

He pressed a kiss into her breast and smiled. "Gonna do a whole lot mo' den dat in a few seconds." His fingers traced a quick circle around her bellybutton before moving further down. She gasped and arched her hips a little when he touched her at her core. His fingers worked smoothly over the silken flesh of her desire, making Rogue feel warm and the blood rush through her veins. She sighed his name quietly as she felt every muscle in her body relax as Remy kept kissing her neck and chest and stroking her. Wrapping her arms around his muscled back, she bit her lip as Remy's fingers moved faster against her. Her hips began to buck underneath his as that wonderful pressure built up inside of her, making her fingernails dig into the skin of his back.

Remy hissed out a breath, the line between pain and pleasure momentarily blurred. He lifted his upper body away from her to see a flush coloring her skin from her cheeks down to her chest. Her brows were drawn together slightly under a forehead that glistened with sweat and her teeth pulled on her lower lip. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Leaning down over her, his whispered "Ya ready?" into her ear.

"Yes!" Rogue pleaded, taking a second to hate how she sounded but also to remember to make Remy pay for it later.

While their lips tangled together again in loving fury, Remy reached one arm over to the nightstand and searched around in the same drawer that he had pulled the material out of. A slight crinkling sound told him he had found was he was looking for and he pulled out a foil wrapped condom.

"Don't bother. We'll be fine." Rogue panted when he pulled away from her to put it on.

Remy shook his head. "Nuh-uh. We doin' dis fo' real. I'm not havin' ya run away from me again when yo' powers come back."

She swallowed and nodded, the motion making Remy notice how a piece of her hair was sticking to her neck with sweat while he finished putting the condom on. Next he found the small hole in the material and slipped into her through that, starting a steady rhythm. Was it going to be this great every time? Rogue was warm and alive beneath him, her silken heat challenging him not to climax in her right there. Her sighs were in his ear as she held onto him for dear life it seemed like. He murmured half-formed declarations of love to her in Cajun French, not having enough brainpower devoted to translating the concepts. The faster he moved, the tighter Rogue held onto him and the louder she became and the harder her fingernails dug into him. It finally got to the point where he couldn't block it out anymore and he groaned aloud in a hazy mix of pain and pleasure.

"Rogue, dat's startin' t' hurt." He managed to tell her, but only received a wordless cry from her as she clenched around him in the throes of release. Her own climax drew his from him, sudden and unrepentantly intense. They became a tangled piled of spent and sweaty limbs, panting to get some kind of lucidity back to themselves. Eventually, Remy rolled off of Rogue, bringing her to his side.

"See? I told ya I could be creative."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It took almost two hours to get from New Orleans to Caldecott, Mississippi. Their only stop was in a diner to use the facilities and to eat something when they got there. It was an old diner, with vinyl booths along the walls and a steel and linoleum counter with the kind of round stools that spun around. While Remy was in the restroom, Rogue looked out the large window next to their booth at the main drag of Caldecott. The stores had changed, some of them closed down because of the Wal-Mart about five miles down the highway and some still remained. They were town institutions and wouldn't close down until the owner died or finally decided to move away. Rogue shook her head slightly and tucked a lock of white hair behind her ear. She wasn't here to reminisce. She was here to find out just what had happened to her and what coming back here had to do with her powers. A few more flashes of memory had come to her once they had gotten to town, but it was nothing that helped.

"Anyt'in' new?" Remy asked as he slid into the seat across from her again.

"Nothin' that Ah don't already know." She replied, and drained the last of her coffee from the mug. "Let's get goin'. Ah'd rather not have ta spook around in some old house in the dark."

Remy threw down a couple of bills and they left. "So which way do we go?" He asked as they got back into the car.

Rogue turned around in her seat to look at the shops and stores across the street and frowned in thought. "That way." She pointed down the street, toward the center of town.

Remy backed out of their spot and pulled out onto the street, heading in the direction that Rogue had indicated. It was quiet as they drove, Rogue keeping her eyes peeled for anything that might look familiar or trigger something in her brain.

"Turn here! Turn here!"

With squealing tires, Remy cut across two lanes of traffic and narrowly avoided being T-boned by the opposing traffic to make the turn. He shook his hair out of his eyes and gave Rogue a look. "How 'bout ya try t' remember somet'in' like dat befo' we actually get to it."

She ignored him, eyes actively scanning the scenery. This was familiar somehow. "Keep goin' down this road." She murmured.

"Fo' how long?"

"'Til Ah say so."

They drove for a while longer, Rogue indicating which turns to take a bit farther in advance than the first one. It wasn't long until they were on the other side of the town, on the very outskirts. The houses were getting bigger and had more unkempt pieces of property around them, the poorest part of town ironically possessing the once-great plantation houses.

"Slow down." Rogue said as they drove along a decrepit looking wooden fence. Remy rolled to a stop at the gravel driveway, peering down the long expanse with Rogue. In the distance a small, old house could be seen that looked like it had been long deprived of any attention. "Ah think this is it." She murmured.

"Here?" Remy asked, pulling the car off to the side of the road and killing the engine. "What in God's name were ya doin' out here?"

"Ah'm gonna find out." She replied and got out of the car.

The gravel crunched under their feet as they walked, the whole scene reminding Remy of _Forrest Gump_ but only much poorer and more dilapidated and without the tree-lined driveway. The grounds before the house were unkempt and the grass and weeds were at least two feet tall. When they came upon the house, it looked even worse than from the road, seeming to lean in upon itself for support. The windows had all been broken in and the front door was missing. The wooden siding that made up the façade of the house was warped and cracked and riddled with dry rot. Next to the house was a rusty, old, burnt-out truck with shattered headlights and weeds growing out of the engine block.

"Do ya t'ink it's safe t' go inside?" Remy asked, prodding gingerly at one of the posts for the roof of the porch.

Rogue shrugged. "Hasn't fallen down yet…so Ah guess it is."

Remy rolled his eyes as Rogue stepped up onto the porch. "First ominous creak and we're out of here." He muttered and followed her inside, half-expecting to hear banjo chords at any second.

The place reeked of mold and just plain neglect. The wallpaper, which couldn't have been younger than thirty-five years old, was peeling and they both jumped when something, an animal probably, scurried in the walls. Rogue walked over to what appeared to be a closet and grabbed the knob, trying to yank it open. Remy laid a hand over her pale, slightly shaking one.

"You alright _chere_?" He asked, catching her eye.

Rogue nodded, unable to speak so many sensations, feelings and memories were flooding her at the moment. She had been here before her blackout and something was telling her that an important piece of the puzzle lay behind this door. Remy managed to get it open for her, almost yanking the door from it's hinges in the effort it took him to do so. There was nothing inside except for a few dead moths, an old vacuum and a naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Pain, misery and fear overwhelmed her at the sight of it though.

"Rogue, yo' not lookin' so good. Ya want t' sit or somet'in'?" Remy's voice brought her back to the present and she realized she was leaning on him heavily.

Extracting herself from him, Rogue shook her head no and replied with a shaky, "Ah'm fine."

They moved further into the house and discovered a living room. Surprisingly a sofa was still there but it the smell of animal urine reeking strongly from it made it obvious as to why no one had taken it. A stand for a television was across from it, but the television was gone, a TV-shaped spot on the wall where it had been. Her boot crunched on broken glass and Rogue looked down at her feet to see she had stepped on a picture. She picked it up and examined it, an astonished whisper of "Oh my God…" falling from her lips.

There was a family in front of the house they were currently in, though it was in much better shape in the photograph. There was a little girl who was no more than four or five years old with what had to have been her mother and her father. She had sparkling, bright green eyes and freckles sprayed across her face. She looked skinny as a rail and had hair that matched Rogue's, even down to the white bangs between her pigtails.

"What is it?" Remy came over to her, looking at the framed photo over her shoulder.

"This…this is me." She whispered and the floodgates opened in her mind. Everything came washing over her; sights, sounds, voices, smells, feelings. Every gap of memory about her early childhood was suddenly filled in and from the sheer volume of it all, Rogue fell into blackness, barely hearing Remy calling her name as she slumped against him.


	6. Full Circle

A/N: MUST READ! This chapter contains strong themes of abuse, domestic abuse is "seen" directly and child abuse is hinted at.

With that out of the way, I present the final chapter of _Hot Bayou Nights_.

_Hot Bayou Nights_  
Chapter 6  
Full Circle

Rogue was falling. It was black all around her and she opened her eyes as wide as she could against the pressing darkness to no avail. She tried flailing her arms and legs, tried to scream as she continued to fall forever, but nothing happened. She was trapped within herself and not even her hair was whipping by her face, but the sick feeling of free-fall in her stomach told her otherwise.

And when she finally landed and sensation returned and she could see and feel and breathe….

She prayed to go back into that darkness rather than be here.

She was huddled in the dark corner of a closet. Various types of shoes littered the dark floor around her and her head would be buried in the hems of clothing had she not kept her head bent towards her knees which were hugged up to her chest. She was here again and she promised herself that she would never come back here, never be afraid again.

"Goddamnit Priscilla! How many times do Ah gotta tell ya?" A man's voice, her father's voice, roared. "Are you that fuckin' stupid?"

"Ah'm sorry Owen!" She heard her mother sob. "But Anna…she came home with a project for school taday—"

"Ah don't give a rat's ass!" The smack of hand against cheek resonated through the air. It was quiet for a few seconds before there was a thud and the clattering of various things falling off of the kitchen counter as her mother was slammed into it. Rogue didn't need to be out there to see it; she had seen it enough times already. All she could do now was hope that her father would tire himself out before he turned his temper on her.

"When Ah come home, Ah expect dinner ta be on this god forsaken table!" Another smack was heard. "Do you understand that? Or do Ah have ta beat it inta ya some more?"

"Owen, please, the neighbors—!"

"Ah don't give a fuck about the neighbors!" Owen threw Priscilla down on the ground, the thud traveling through the floor and the skittering of flesh against linoleum was heard as her mother slid slightly across the floor. "But you do, don't ya? You little slut! You're doin' the whole damn county! You fuckin' whore!"

"Owen, please! Owen!" Her mother's voice sounded strange and Rogue began to rock back and forth in her spot in the closet. Her breath quickened and tears began to stream down her face as the struggle continued, her mother's voice growing fainter and fainter. She hated the silence when they fought. Silence was bad, silence meant that momma was hurt and she would have to help her. Silence meant that her father was done with her mother and could be looking for her.

There was a sudden commotion, like the sound of bodies wrestling around on the ground. "Ow! Fuckin' bitch!" Owen cursed as Priscilla's rapid footfalls were heard heading toward the back door. "Come back here!"

"No! Stay away from me! Ah'll scream Owen, Ah swear ta God Ah'll—"

A loud, heavy thud and then, "Don't! Ya! Ever! Do! That! Again!" She could tell they were in the living room as their voices sounded farther away. Along with the carpeting on the floor in the living room, it made it harder to tell what was going on.

There was a loud and very heavy silence that seemed to constrict around Rogue's chest and make her skin prickle painfully. A heavy sigh and then, "…Shit."

Something was wrong. It was too quiet. Momma was hurt. "Momma!" Rogue cried as she ran out of the closet and into the living room. Owen was standing over her mother's currently lifeless form, his knuckles split and bleeding, his blood mixing with her mother's.

"What did you do?" She screamed a sob at him, rushing towards her father and attacking him with small fists and scrawny kicks. "What did ya do ta my momma?"

"Get off me ya little whelp!" He back-handed Rogue across the face, which sent her sprawling. Instead of leaving her alone like his words implied, he came after Rogue.

"No! No! Stop it! Don't touch me! Ah hate ya! Stop it!" She cried as she did her best to remain out of her father's grasp. She thought she had failed when his hand clasped down on petite ankle. Instead something strange happened and Rogue felt a shock go up her body and directly into her brain. It was painful and it hurt and she couldn't stop thinking about bad things. Things like hitting momma and drinking beer and breaking things and yelling. And she was angry, so very, very angry…and scared. What was going on? Where was that pest that that woman of his had decided to keep?

Everything became a blur of angry, evil thoughts after that. Someone was yelling and there were things breaking, but Rogue couldn't tell from where. The next thing she knew, she was standing in the kitchen, heavy iron frying pan in her hand and panting hard. She swallowed and found that her throat hurt. Had it been her that had been doing all that yelling? Momma was still passed out on the floor and so was Owen. She looked around and saw that the kitchen was a mess, much more damage done than what had come from the fight.

There was a groan and Rogue turned and saw Owen's arm move. She looked quickly between him and the kitchen, horror turning her skin pale. When he woke up, he was going to beat her senseless for this. It would be even worse than that week she had to stay home from school. With a gasp and fresh tears springing to her eyes, Rogue ran. Ran out of the house and down the street and as far away from the house and Owen as possible until her legs couldn't carry her anymore….

"…Rogue? Answer me! C'mon _femme_, now's not de time fo' a nap!" Remy was hovering over her, shaking her gently.

"Don't touch me!" She yelped, shoving Remy away from her and skittering away from him until her back was against the rotting, decrepit couch.

"Rogue, what happened?" Remy made to start towards her, but Rogue pointed a warning finger at him.

"You just stay over there." She edgily demanded. "Just-Just stay over there. Stay away." She sniffed and drew her knees up to her chest. _Ah don't like boys anymore. 'Specially the ones like Owen. Keep 'em away from me, don't let 'em touch me._

Remy backed off and sat down on the floor across from Rogue. "Rogue," he asked in as calm a voice as he could manage, "what's wrong?"

She shook her head and sniffed, swallowing hard as tears threatened to well up in her eyes. She put her head on her knees and covered her head with her arms. In her mind, images of when she was a little older than she was when Owen was around flashed through. Some of the neighborhood boys had been exploring in the woods and found Rogue's fort. They thought her gun was pretty cool and she told them it was hers even though she had just found it lying on the ground. They wanted her to come exploring with them, maybe they could shoot some stuff along the way. Rogue said she didn't want to go, but they kept pleading. They seemed to like her. _Maybe…maybe they won't be like Owen. They don't yell as much as him…_

"I can't help ya if ya don't tell me what's wrong."

Now she was seeing Cody. Cody and it was about two seconds before they were going to kiss. His face loomed large in front of her and she could see every single freckle on his face. She had never kissed anyone before and the only other people she ever saw kiss was Owen and Momma. Something between a thought, a feeling and a terrible memory seized her brain once her lips touched his. There was that same jolt to her brain like that night when Owen had tried to get her and all she could think about was football and action figures and that Rogue was pretty and she wanted to kiss her. But wait, wasn't she Rogue? Or was her name Cody? If she was Rogue…and Cody…then who was that on the ground?

This whole ordeal had happened before. Rogue had stood in this room almost three weeks ago and the same thing had happened. Terrible, soul-scarring memories had flooded her and when she came back, a wonderful feeling had filled her. She knew, by some innate instinct that her powers were gone. Suddenly her clothes had become stifling hot and she demanded new ones. She made her way to town, tearing the sleeves off of her shirt and reveling in the feeling of air on her bare arms as she went. The nearest clothing store saw her purchase a whole new wardrobe and walk out in one of her new outfits and throw out her old clothes in a trashcan outside. Rogue then went to a bar to let loose and have some fun like she used to. She met a couple of guys and they decided to go to another bar for some more fun. But on the car ride over was when things began coming back to her. Owen's screaming voice echoed in her ears and fear, powerful in its' simple intensity flooded her. She asked to be let out of the car and the gentlemen, for lack of a better word, she was with refused. It was too much too fast, way too much for a girl who hadn't played the field like this in quite some time. Only when her requests rapidly neared hysterics did they pull over and with a shove and many mutters of "crazy bitch" they let her out of the car. Memories, feelings and thoughts had reached a boiling point in her mind again and on top of the panic she was already feeling, some self- defense mechanism in Rogue decided to shut everything down. She collapsed on the side of the highway, her unconscious body rolling down into the gully next to it.

"Rogue. Look at me."

Slowly, Rogue dropped her arms slightly and peeked one eye at Remy. He stretched a hand out for her to take and she flinched away, retreating into her shell of arms and legs.

Remy frowned and looked around at their surroundings. This place must have triggered bad memories or scared her out of her wits somehow, though he had no idea what this place meant to her. His eyes fell again to the huddled mass that was Rogue and a small, almost inaudible sigh escaped him. "C'mon Rogue." He decided to stick to her "real" name since calling her anything else might make her think that was her actual name. One didn't have an off and on girlfriend who could actually take a real mental vacation from time to time without picking up a few tricks. He held out his hand to her again. "Ya know I'm not gonna hurt ya. Yo' safe here with me, whatever it is, I won't let it hurt ya."

Rogue looked up at him and actually made eye contact this time. She looked from him, then to his hand and then back up at him. She broke (or maybe finally came back to herself) with a sob and took Remy's hand. He pulled her towards him and held her while she sobbed into his chest.

They stayed like that for a long time until Rogue was all cried out and was reduced to hiccups. The ride back home was quiet verging on awkwardness, save for an occasional sniffle or hiccup from Rogue. Remy only allowed the silence because he thought it best to let Rogue process whatever had happened before he went and questioned her about it. It was also why he let her sit in the backseat rather than up front with him. The ride took longer going home than it did coming there since Rogue didn't offer any directions, which left Remy to guess his way back to New Orleans. He didn't mind though.

It was dark when they got back to the house, Rogue fleeing upstairs to her room and closing the door as soon as Remy had unlocked the front one. She stayed up there all night and Remy stayed up looking at the television rather than watching it as it appeared until he fell asleep on the couch at around three a.m.

He was awoken a few hours later by a creak from the steps. The orange tinge of the light streaming in from the windows told him it was near sunrise, if the sun wasn't in the middle of doing so this instant. Remy sat up with a groan and rubbed at his eyes and then the stubble on is chin. He knew Rogue was up, out front on the porch probably, the soft click of the door shortly after the creak on the stairs telling him so. Silently, with the stealth of a practiced thief, Remy followed Rogue's path and silently opened the door. He stood there for a few moments, watching her, taking her all in and letting her know he was there. She was dressed in jeans and a long sleeved, flow-y shirt. She was leaning her arms against the railing, watching the world slowly come awake. A small breeze lifted some hair away from her face, revealing sun-kissed skin with a faint color to her cheeks in stunning contrast to her piercing green eyes. She turned her head and those green eyes pierced him directly.

"Ya gonna stand there and stare all mornin' or are ya gonna join me?"

Remy pushed off the doorframe and joined her, mimicking her pose. He didn't say anything because he had no idea how she would react. At anything he said she could start crying or fly off the handle at him or do a million different other things that would ruin the apparent calm she had found overnight. And a calm Rogue seemed like the best thing right now.

After a few moments of silence, Rogue spoke. "Ah sorry, if Ah scared ya or anythin'."

Remy shrugged and waved it off. "Was not'in'. Not like dat time ya absorbed Sabertooth and had a uni-brow and chest hair fo' a week."

A corner of her lips picked up in a slight smile. "Then let me say thank ya for bein' there, for keepin' me safe."

"Ya don't have t' say anyt'in', _chere_, you know I'd do anyt'in' fo' you."

She nodded and they lapsed into silence again. It lasted long enough for a car to pass by on the street and several minutes after that for a man walking his dog to go by as well, in the opposite direction.

"Ya know, my real name isn't Rogue," she said and Remy slid his eyes over to her, a brow arched ever so slightly in interest, "its Anna Marie."

"Thought ya said ya didn't remember it?"

"Ah remember now," she replied. "That house we went ta yesterday…Ah lived there when Ah was little. With my real mother and father," she paused and took a breath. "It wasn't a happy place…Ah was there before Ah found you…" she recounted to him all that she had remembered yesterday, talking right over Remy when he insisted upon interrupting.

"Ah think…Ah think the first time Ah saw those memories, Ah think they broke somethin' in me. It was just too much, with the team breakin' up and you and me…Ah guess somet'in' had ta give and it ended up bein' mah powers." She finished and the air seemed heavy with everything that she just said.

"So," Remy drew out the word with uncertainty after a long and heavy silence sat between them. "Are yo' powers back?"

Rogue nodded with some certainty.

Curiosity welled up in Remy, as he hadn't heard Rogue leave at all and he was the only other living thing in the house besides her…. "How do ya know?"

Her shoulders raised ever-so-slightly in a shrug. "Ah just…know." She edged closer to him until she was able to nudge her shoulder with his. She did it in part to show the panicking voice in the back of her head that was still that child back in Caldecott that not everyone was out to harm or hurt her. It quelled, but only ever so slightly. Her meetings with the Professor, whenever she saw him again, would probably take on a second purpose, to help her deal with all that she had realized. The other reason she nudged Remy was to show that despite whatever her irrational fears may be, that she, the Rogue of the present, trusted him—even with her powers back.

"So, ya still love me even if Ah am some crazy, broken girl with men-issues?" she asked.

An involuntary smile formed on Remy's face. "Of course I do. Gonna take a lot mo' den no touchin' and a complete mental meltdown t' drive dis Cajun away." He put his arm around her in a side-hug, making sure that he wasn't near any exposed skin and kissed her hair. She tensed, but a shade less than she did a year and a half ago, when they were last together. Small steps.

The phone rang from somewhere in the house and it seemed to break the mood that settled over them. Remy went to go get it, leaving Rogue to watch the city go by in relative solitude. She took the time alone to breathe deep and put everything about her past aside for now. She put it in a box in her mind and contented herself with the knowledge that the Prof would help her deal with it when the teams got back together. Just as she began wondering what on earth he could be talking about with someone this early in the morning, Remy returned holding two steaming mugs of coffee. The look on his face told her that it was something he didn't want to hear or that she wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"Dat was Stormy," he said, handing her a mug. "Says she's gettin' t'gether a team."

"For what?" Rogue asked and then took a sip of her coffee.

"Beats me. She was bein' real tight lipped about it. Says we'd probably like it though."

"That's not a good sign."

Remy chuckled and swallowed his coffee. "She was real surprised t' hear dat you were here."

Her eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"_Oui_. But I didn't tell her not'in'." He guessed by the look of relief of Rogue's face that it had been the right thing to do.

"So, are ya goin' ta go?"

Remy shrugged. "Depends. Do ya want t' go?"

"Sure, why not? Ah haven't been on a globe-hoppin' wild goose chase in a while."

"_Bon._ 'Cause she said she's on her way here and'll be here 'round five."

Rogue's eyes widened for a second before she shook her head. "Nice of her to let us know." She muttered into her mug of coffee before taking a sip.

"So what _are_ we goin' ta tell everyone?"

"Nothin'," Rogue replied. "S'our business and no one else's."

"Fair 'nough." Remy replied.

* * *

Finally, it's all done! I can't believe it took me so long to finish this. But as John Lennon said "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans". It's done and I hoped you all liked it.

I know I've been a total ass about reviews and stuff and I'm sorry. I _do_ read every single one I get and I am grateful for all of them and for you guys taking the time to write them. So if you leave a review and I don't get back to you on it for whatever reason, just know that I have read it and am thankful for it.

--Mercedes Watson


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